Department offices purchased closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit strategies for massive 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump's due date to submit plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department's "final objective," it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for clingy districts.

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

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased workplaces in the Washington location near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately 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 agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the newest action in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the federal 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 bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has irritated several White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually faced upset constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have actually used employees payments to retire early to meet Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just openly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

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

The overall inappropriate payments figure was down sharply from 2023's $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers 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 Fda.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at a number of federal firms informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government's property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for remark beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used rewards of as much as $50,000, reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they plan 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 used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members revealing 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 previous deal by including 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark beyond regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)