Department offices ordered shut 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 incorrect 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 entirely, as government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the firings 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 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm bought offices in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

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

The layoffs are the most recent step in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world's richest 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 agreements, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has irritated several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several agencies have used employees payments to retire early to satisfy Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers who have dedicated their professions 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 inefficient and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to 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 provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government's property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a number of firms have telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, 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 understanding of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 workers announcing 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 prior offer by including 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 remark outside of normal U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)