Department workplaces purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds 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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump's due date to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department's "final objective," it said in a press release, pointing to Trump's vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department's taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated "yes," including that doing so "was the president's required." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the company bought workplaces in the Washington area near staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus unscrupulous lenders.

The layoffs are the latest action in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world's richest person 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 administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, in spite of lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force approach has irritated a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first significant public move to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several companies have offered employees payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless employees who have devoted their professions to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the federal government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report stated. 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 said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually provided lump-sum payments of up to $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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a very 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 likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of workers they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage 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 offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 workers revealing 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 prior offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment outside of regular U.S. organization 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)