More than a week into the government shutdown, layoffs of federal workers have begun, following through on administration threats to slash the size of government during the shutdown.
In a court filing late Friday, lawyers for the government wrote that an estimated 4,200 employees across at least seven agencies began receiving reduction in force, or RIF, notices on Oct. 10.
The declaration, from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) senior advisor Stephen Billy, came in response to an order from the federal judge assigned to a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's shutdown layoffs.
Word that layoffs were underway first came from OMB Director Russell Vought in a social media post on X that said, "The RIFs have begun."
While the administration initially offered few details on the scope of what it called "substantial" layoffs, some federal employees began sharing actual layoff notices on social media while federal employee unions said they'd been notified of pending cuts.
Asked by reporters Friday how many workers may lose their jobs, President Trump did not give an exact figure, but told reporters "it'll be a lot."
"We'll announce the numbers over the next couple of days, but it'll be a lot of people, all because of the Democrats," Trump said.
In his declaration, OMB senior advisor Billy stressed that while the information he was providing Friday was the most current, the situation "is fluid and rapidly evolving." The numbers are subject to change, he wrote, suggesting more RIFs could come in the future.
Here are the agencies affected by the RIFs, according to the declaration, with the estimated numbers of employees who will be affected:
Department of Health and Human Services: 1,100-1,200 employee
Earlier Friday, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon confirmed that RIF notices are being sent out to agency employees.
"HHS employees across multiple divisions are receiving reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown," said Nixon shortly after Vought's post. "All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions."
Nixon blamed the Biden administration for creating a "bloated bureaucracy," although HHS has already cut more workers — 20,000 workers through an earlier RIF and through voluntary resignations and retirements — than were added during the Biden administration.
Department of Education: 466 employees
A union representing Education Department employees said in a statement that "multiple union members" confirmed that at least two offices would be affected by RIFs: the Office of Communications and Outreach as well as the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
"This administration continues to use every opportunity to illegally dismantle the Department of Education (ED) against congressional intent," AFGE Local 252 president Rachel Gittleman said in a statement on Friday. "They are using the same playbook to cut staff without regard for the impacts to students and families in communities across the country."
Department of Housing and Urban Development: 442 employees
Antonio Gaines, president of AFGE Council 222, representing employees of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) across the country, confirmed to NPR that the union had received notice from HUD of its "intent to fire a number of employees."
"We are in the process of reviewing the notice, assessing the impact and magnitude of the agency's decision, while acquiring legal guidance from the National office," Gaines wrote.
A HUD spokesperson said the reduction in force was "to align our programs with the Administration's priorities and the appropriations available to the department."
Treasury Department: 1,446 employees
On Reddit, IRS employees posted screenshots of actual RIF notices they had received, informing them of their last day, Dec. 9.
"The Internal Revenue Service has determined it is necessary to abolish some positions in INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY to further workforce shaping efforts," read one such notice.
An employee with the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund shared a notice that the entire organization was set to be abolished.
Environmental Protection Agency: 20-30 employees
In court filings, the Trump administration said the EPA has not made a final decision on "whether or when to issue RIF notices."
But earlier Friday, AFGE Council 238 president Justin Chen said he'd learned that Environmental Protection Agency employees overseeing recycling and composting initiatives, plastics reduction and other programs, were among those targeted for layoffs.
"Weakening the EPA workforce is a direct threat to the health and safety of Americans," wrote Chen in a statement. "If Trump thinks he is only hurting federal workers with this decision, he is sorely mistaken."
An EPA spokesperson blamed Democrats and the government shutdown for the layoffs.
Other agencies
The other agencies mentioned in the declaration are the Commerce Department, with 315 employees affected; the Energy Department, with 187 employees affected; and the Department of Homeland Security, with 176 employees affected.
Here's what's ahead with mass layoffs at federal agencies : NPR
Federal law is specific about the process that RIFs must follow, including a minimum 60 days' notice of their end date, or 30 days if a waiver is granted by the Office of Personnel Management.
Some agencies may need to notify unions or Congress, and then draft official notices to send to affected employees. The notices are required to include information such as the reasons for the RIF and the effective date.
Unions seek legal recourse, again
The declaration came in a lawsuit filed by several unions over the threat of RIFs ahead of the shutdown, arguing "the Trump administration has made unlawful threats to dismantle essential federal services and functions provided by federal personnel, deviating from historic practice and violating applicable laws."
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had ordered the Trump administration to detail the status of "any currently planned or in-progress RIF notices to be issued during/because of the government shutdown." Illston will hold a hearing in the case next Wednesday.
In a statement Friday, American Federation of Government Employees National president Everett Kelley slammed the RIFs announcement.
"It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country," he said.
Since the shutdown began, the Trump administration has made several threats to cut spending, fire workers and not pay some furloughed employees, arguing that the reductions are the fault of Democrats who won't drop their demands for extended health care subsidies in exchange for reopening the government.
The White House has also said its decision to freeze transportation funding in Chicago and New York and cancel billions of dollars in Biden-era energy project grants are a continuation of their push to shrink the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
Mass layoffs were a hallmark policy of the Department of Government Efficiency effort that began when Trump returned to office in January.
In February, a memo from the Office of Personnel Management and OMB asked federal agencies to prepare multi-phase plans to implement Trump's "workforce optimization initiative" that includes layoffs and what the workforce would look like when the new fiscal year started Oct. 1.
As NPR has previously reported, many agencies that implemented layoffs at the pressure and direction of DOGE have hired back workers in recent weeks, citing the inability to perform basic tasks and carry out Trump's policy priorities.
While the Trump administration has argued that cuts to the federal government need to happen because of the lapse in funding, some experts say a shutdown does not mean layoffs are necessary.
"There is no statute requiring them to lay off a substantial share of federal employees during a temporary government shutdown," Jessica Riedl with the center-right Manhattan Institute said. "That statute doesn't exist, and such practice has not occurred during previous shutdowns."
Layoffs dampen chance of funding compromise
Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are pinning blame for the mass layoffs on Democrats, who have refused to support a Republican-backed measure to reopen the government because it does not extend health insurance subsidies that are expiring later this year.
GOP leaders also hoped the threat of mass layoffs would compel Democrats to relent. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the Trump administration was left with no choice.
"I think they held off as long as they could," Thune told reporters Friday.
But Democrats say Republicans are taking advantage of the shutdown to continue their ongoing effort to slash the footprint of the federal government.
"Let's be blunt: nobody's forcing Trump and Vought to do this," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Friday. "They don't have to do it; they want to. They're callously choosing to hurt people—the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond when disasters strike. This is deliberate chaos."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., told reporters on Thursday that a bipartisan group was making progress on a possible path to end the shutdown that would include a vote on health insurance subsidies after the government reopens.
But hope of a compromise may be fading again, as the layoffs inflame tensions in Congress even more.
Collins was among the few Republicans to criticize the layoffs on Friday.
"I strongly oppose OMB Director Russ Vought's attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed due to a completely unnecessary government shutdown caused by Senator Schumer," Collins wrote. "Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public."
NPR's Cory Turner, Jennifer Ludden and Michael Copley contributed to this report.
Have information you want to share about agency reduction-in-force plans and other changes to the federal government? Reach out to this author through encrypted communications on Signal: Stephen Fowler is at stphnfwlr.25.
