Department offices bought closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government agencies rushed to meet President Donald Trump's due date to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department's "last 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 liberties laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to 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 workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency bought 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 immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked 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 safeguards Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world's wealthiest person 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 aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force method has actually annoyed a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually faced mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have actually been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several companies have provided workers payments to retire early to meet Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers 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 actually argued that the federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, 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 up to $25,000 before tax to 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 reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at several federal companies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government's home portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also requires workers who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

Only a number of firms have telegraphed how lots of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd stage 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees 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 previous offer by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond typical U.S. company 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)