Department offices purchased shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for massive 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 nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department's "final objective," it said in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department's dismantling, 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area near personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world's wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE's blunt-force approach has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several companies have used workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, 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 Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is inefficient and puffed up. it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just openly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered 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 large bulk were overpayments, the report said. 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 stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who accept 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, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government's property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These consist of 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 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of 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)