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Department workplaces purchased shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new federal government report on inappropriate payments, paragraphs 12-14)

By Timothy Gardner, Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Marisa Taylor

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Education stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government companies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump's due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department's "last mission," it said in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would cause the department's dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated "yes," including that doing so "was the president's required." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the company bought offices in the Washington area near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most current action in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the 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 aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force method has actually annoyed several White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually challenged angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first significant public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several firms have offered staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump's need.

Affected Education Department workers will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department stated.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would combat the "extreme cuts."

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless employees who have actually devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only publicly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall incorrect payments figure was down dramatically from 2023's $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who agree to leave their jobs. 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 offers, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at several federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of 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 property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed how numerous staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by including two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark outside of typical U.S. company hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)