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Department workplaces purchased closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new 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 nearly half its personnel, a possible to closing completely, as government firms scrambled to meet President Donald Trump's due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department's "final mission," it stated in a news release, pointing to Trump's vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department's taking apart, 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 company ordered workplaces in the Washington location closed to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures served 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 safeguards Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

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 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has actually frustrated numerous White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have confronted upset constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first noteworthy public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have actually used workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have actually committed their careers 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 wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only openly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers 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 Fda.

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

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary employees in a 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 likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided rewards of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed the number of employees they plan to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually offered 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 Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members 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 including two months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond normal U.S. organization 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)