Department offices ordered shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-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 staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms rushed to meet President Donald Trump's deadline to send strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department's "final objective," it said in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and supplies 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm ordered 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 instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures served 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 protects Americans versus unethical loan providers.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the federal 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 bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE's blunt-force approach has frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have challenged mad constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have actually been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, up the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have provided staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's need.

Affected Education Department workers 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 battle the "heavy-handed cuts."

"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine 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 puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report said. 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 stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used 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 offers, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels experts at a number of federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government's property portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered bonus offers of as much as $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 workers who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed how numerous employees they plan 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were given 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 adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark beyond normal 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)