Department offices ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new federal 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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to meet President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department's "last mission," it stated in a press release, alluding to Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause 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 firm purchased offices in the Washington location near to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards against unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the latest 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 cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force method has frustrated several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have challenged upset constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the thousands of workers who have actually devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans," said 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 conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have provided lump-sum payments of approximately $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 provides, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at a number of federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad claims after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government's property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of staff members they plan to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These include 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 used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, 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 staff members 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 previous deal by including two months of complete pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark beyond typical U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)