Department workplaces purchased closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send strategies for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new federal 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump's due date to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department's taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said "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 purchased workplaces in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to concerns 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 company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE's blunt-force approach has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually committed their careers to serve their fellow Americans," stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but 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 approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits 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 manages the federal government's property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed how many 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

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

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, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment beyond regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)