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Department offices ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send plans for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump's due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department's "last objective," it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

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

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away respond to concerns about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize 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 help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, despite lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has actually annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually confronted upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week 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 companies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have used staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump's need.

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 battle the "draconian cuts."

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers who have devoted 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 wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just openly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually 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 launched on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their jobs. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, personnels professionals at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government's home portfolio, is also seeking 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 could not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of firms have telegraphed how lots of workers they plan to cut in the second 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 personnel.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 employees announcing 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 deal by including 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark 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)