The Defense Department plans to issue RIFs in the coming weeks for 5% to 8% of its civilian workforce. J. David Ake/Getty Images
RIF watch: See which agencies are laying off federal workers
Here are the agencies where we have confirmed layoffs have taken or are about to take place. We will update as we learn more.
Updated March 14 at 4:15 p.m.
The Trump administration has given agencies a March 13 deadline to finalize their plans to slash their workforces through layoffs.
Not all agencies are waiting that long, however, and some have either already started sending out reduction-in-force notices or have explained their plans to do so. The upcoming layoffs are separate from the mass firings of probationary employees, which led to the removal of at least 25,000 workers. See our tracker of those firings here.
A President Trump executive order and subsequent guidance from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management has to plan for the “maximum elimination” of federal agency functions not required by law. As a starting point for the cuts, OMB and OPM said, agencies should focus on employees whose jobs are not required in statute and who face furloughs in government shutdowns—typically around one-third of the federal workforce, or 700,000 employees.
Agencies are expected to eliminate some offices wholesale and slash their regional offices across the country.
Here are the departments and agencies where Government Executive has confirmed RIFs have taken place or about to occur. We will update as we learn more. More in-depth reporting is linked where available:
Commerce Department: Commerce is seeking to cut its workforce by 20%, or nearly 10,000 employees, but plans to use attrition, incentives and other measures to get to that level without RIFs.
Defense Department: Defense plans to issue RIFs in the coming weeks for 5% to 8% of its civilian workforce, or as many as 61,000 employees. It will fire 5,400 probationary employees as part of those cuts.
Education Department: Education has laid off one-third of its workforce, or about 1,300 employees. The notices went out on March 11 and the department closed its offices on March 12 for the day. Education previously offered buyouts of up to $25,000 to most of its employees, who had until March 3 at 11:59 p.m. to accept the offer. About 300 employees accepted those and combined with other voluntary separations, Education's total workforce is set to be about half the size it was before Trump took office.
Environmental Protection Agency: RIFs began to take shape at EPA on March 11 when agency Administrator Lee Zeldin eliminated offices related to environmental justice and diversity. Those were expected to impact around 170 employees. President Trump said during a cabinet meeting that he expected 65% of the workforce, or nearly 11,000 employees, to be let go. An EPA spokesperson declined to verify that number, saying only that Trump and Zeldin are “in lock step” to find efficiencies in government and those efforts would include “organizational improvements to the personnel structure.” A White House spokesperson subsequently told Politico Trump meant to say EPA would slash 65% of its "wasteful spending."
Federal Trade Commission: FTC dismissed around a dozen employees on Feb. 28, impacting its Bureau of Competition, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Office of Public Affairs and Office of Technology.
General Service Administration: GSA has sent RIF notices to some employees in its Office of Human Resources Management and Office of Customer Experience and severe cuts are expected in the Public Building Service and elsewhere.
- GSA has also eliminated 18F, and laid off virtually all employees there.
- On March 3, GSA began widespread RIFs focused on its Public Buildings Service, according to two employees briefed on the plans. The agency was expected to lay off 600 employees on Monday with more coming throughout the week. Nearly 40% of GSA's region nine, based in San Francisco and covering California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii, were let go, employees said.
- On March 5, region 10 of GSA's Public Buildings Service, which services the northwest and Alaska, sent RIF notices to 165 of 178 employees, according a source familiar with the actions.
Health and Human Services Department
- National Institutes of Health: NIH has received a directive from the Department of Government Efficiency to cut its staffing down to fiscal 2019 levels, which would mark a reduction of around 3,400 employees.
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HHS will shutter six regional offices in its Office of General Counsel, bringing the agency from 10 OGC offices down to four. Those will be located in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Kansas City, Mo., and Denver. Impacted staff—about 200 of the 300 in the regional offices—will be laid off, according to two employees affected by the changes and informed of the department’s plans. Those RIF notices are expected to go out within 60 days.
While HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy said the four offices would provide the same coverage they had previously, the employee had significant concerns about the impact the closures would have on vulnerable populations such as nursing home residents, children in Head Start and hospital patients. HHS’ regional attorneys provide advice and, when necessary, litigate cases on those matters and that work is now less likely to get done, the employee said.
Housing and Urban Development Department: HUD has issued RIF notices to all employees in the Office of Field Policy and Management at the General Schedule-13 level and below, according to a memo obtained by Government Executive. The employees will be terminated May 18. HUD is expected to issue more widespread RIFs in the coming weeks, according to an employee briefed on the matter.
Labor Department: DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has proposed reducing its workforce by 90%, according to an internal memo obtained by Government Executive. The plan would reduce the number of employees from nearly 500 to 50 and cut the number of regional and field offices from 54 to four.
NASA: NASA began sending RIF notices to employees on March 10. In an email to staff, acting Administrator Janet Petro told staff it was a "phased reduction in force," meaning more layoffs are expected in the coming days and weeks. She called the cuts "difficult adjustments" impacting "valued members of our team," but said the agency was viewing the changes as "an opportunity to reshape our workforce." NASA has so far laid off only around 20 employees by closing the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, the Office of the Chief Scientist and employees working on diversity issues. NASA's RIF and reorganization plan is still forthcoming, Petro said.
Office of Personnel Management: OPM, which is spearheading the workforce reduction effort across government, has sent RIF notices to at least its Office of Procurement Operations and communications staff. Around 80 people were let go. In late February, OPM virtually eliminated its Human Capital Data Management and Modernization office. Several dozen employees received RIF notices and only 10 were spared. OPM has also laid off employees from its privacy and Freedom of Information Act office. OPM has also eliminated its Chief Technology Office.
Social Security Administration: SSA has shuttered two offices—its Office of Transformation and Office of Civil Rights—though for now employees there are on administrative leave and have not yet received RIF notices. SSA acting Administrator Leland Dudek is planning to lay off 7,000 employees in total, according to three employees familiar with the plans.
U.S. Agency for International Development: The Trump administration is in the process of shuttering virtually the entire agency and it has already sent RIF notices to nearly all of its 2,000 U.S.-based employees. Overseas staff are largely on administrative leave currently and are expected to receive RIF notices in the coming weeks.
Veterans Affairs Department: VA is aiming to slash its workforce to fiscal 2019 levels, which would mark a reduction of more than 80,000 employees. RIFs are expected to begin this summer. Since 2019, VA has gone on a hiring spree to accommodate the millions of veterans newly eligible for care and benefits.
See something we are missing? Share your experience with us:
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Erich Wagner: ewagner@govexec.com; Signal: ewagner.47