Affected education employees will be placed on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department said in a press release announcing the firings. The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,“ the release said, alluding to Trump’s repeated campaign vow to eliminate the department.
“This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system,“ she said.
“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,“ Sheria Smith, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, said.
The buyout offers, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.
All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump’s unprecedented campaign to overhaul the government. One of his top advisers, the world’s richest person Elon Musk, is leading that effort with his Department of Government Efficiency.
Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires workers who have accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another government job within five years.
OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS
Despite the looming deadline, no agency has yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government’s human resources department that is collating the data, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.
At the General Services Administration, employees were informed on Monday that OPM had greenlit a plan to offer an early retirement program to all eligible employees.
On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all its 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.
Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior VSIP offer by adding that workers accepting it would get two months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters.
OPM declined to respond to Lenkart’s comments
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