Department workplaces bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit strategies for massive 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies rushed to meet President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department's "last objective," it said in a news release, alluding to Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department's dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated "yes," adding that doing so "was the president's required." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company purchased workplaces in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately respond to concerns about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures served 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 secures Americans against dishonest lending institutions.

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

DOGE's blunt-force approach has actually irritated several White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have provided staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the thousands of employees who have actually devoted 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 government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just openly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually provided 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 Fda.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at several federal firms told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government's home portfolio, is also approval to use 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 might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently offered bonus offers 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 vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed how many staff members they prepare to cut in the second stage 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 personnel.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 employees 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 previous deal by including two months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark 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, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)