Department workplaces ordered shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department's "final mission," it stated in a news release, pointing to Trump's vow to get rid of the department, which manages $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 shootings would cause the department's taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated "yes," adding that doing so "was the president's mandate." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased workplaces in the Washington area near to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

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

The layoffs are the newest action in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world's richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force method has actually frustrated numerous White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

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

Affected Education Department employees will be put on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department said.

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 firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the countless workers who have actually devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only publicly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at a number of federal firms told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government's home portfolio, is also looking for approval to provide 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 remark beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided perks of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also needs workers who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of agencies have telegraphed how lots of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 offer by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment outside of typical U.S. service 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)