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Department workplaces bought shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare 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 nearly half its staff, a possible to closing completely, as federal government firms rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump's deadline to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department's "last objective," it said in a press release, pointing to Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

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

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

Similar closures acted 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 dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current 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 cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, in spite of dozens of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has actually irritated a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public move to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have offered staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's demand.

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

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

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers who have actually 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 actually argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 offers, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at several federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of 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 federal government's home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, 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 outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used benefits of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed how many staff members they prepare to cut in the second phase 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need 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 beyond regular U.S. company 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)