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Department workplaces purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date 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 entirely, as federal government firms rushed to meet President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department's "final mission," it stated in a news release, alluding to Trump's vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.

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

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased offices in the Washington location near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lenders.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world's wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has annoyed several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have challenged angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have offered employees payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's need.

Affected Education Department staff members will be positioned on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would fight the "extreme cuts."

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have 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 actually argued that the government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who consent 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed how many staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were given until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 workers announcing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for remark beyond typical U.S. service hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)