Department workplaces ordered shut down till Thursday
Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is due date to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs
(Adds new government report on improper payments, paragraphs 12-14)
By Timothy Gardner, Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Marisa Taylor
WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Education said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump's due date to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.
The terminations are part of the department's "last mission," it said in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for clingy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department's taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said "yes," adding that doing so "was the president's required." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.
Before revealing the layoffs, the agency purchased workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly respond to concerns about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.
Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unethical lenders.
The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world's richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.
DOGE's blunt-force approach has actually frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually confronted mad constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. federal government companies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several firms have provided staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump's demand.
Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department stated.
The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would battle the "heavy-handed cuts."
"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless workers who have actually dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans," stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
Trump and Musk have argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.
The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The total improper payments figure was down sharply from 2023's $236 billion, the GAO stated.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other companies have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who agree to leave their tasks. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.
The buyout provides, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at several federal agencies told Reuters.
The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which handles the government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.
Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.
Only a couple of firms have telegraphed how many workers they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.
OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to react.
On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 workers announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.
Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark outside of normal U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
