Social Security workers axed, new Musk email coming. What to know about Trump's layoffs.
Thousands of federal employees have been let go in the past few weeks in a series of purges by the Trump administration. The cuts have left agencies and workers reeling, while President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor, Elon Musk, say they are making good on his promises to slash federal spending.
Many people fired received termination letters that included language calling their performance into question − even in cases where they had a record of positive reviews or performance awards.
“I just feel a sense of emptiness. Like I feel I’ve done everything right," Allie Mitchell, a 30-year-old former researcher at the National Institute on Aging, told Paste BN. "And they just fired us and said it was because of your performance. And that’s not true."
Here's what to know about the ongoing federal layoffs.
Fact check: post claims 6% of federal workers are in office
A Jan. 28 Facebook post made the claim that “only 6% of all federal employees work full-time in an office.”
Versions of the claim circulated widely both and before President Donald Trump took office for his second term, and they were amplified by members of Congress, leading conservative commentators and the Trump White House.
However, the latest figures show 54% of federal employees perform their work duties fully on-site, not 6%, according to a federal agency’s August 2024 report to Congress that examined the majority of federal employees.
– Joedy McCreary
Foreign aid groups respond to Supreme Court amid funding freeze
Organizations waiting to be paid by the federal government for foreign aid work asked the Supreme Court Friday to deny the Trump administration’s request for a reprieve.
The groups said they were plunged into financial turmoil when Trump, on his first day in office, ordered a blanket freeze on foreign assistance funding. A federal judge had ordered the administration to suspend the freeze, setting Wednesday as the deadline for compliance.
Hours before that deadline, Chief Justice John Roberts paused the order and asked the aid groups to respond to the administration’s arguments that the order should be overturned.
The aid organizations have responded, calling the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court “extraordinary.” And in the meantime, they write that Americans have lost their jobs, businesses have been ruined, food is rotting, and critical medical care is being withheld.
– Maureen Groppe
Workers being asked again, ‘What did you do last week?’
Federal workers should expect a second round of emails asking what they accomplished at work this week, a source familiar with the plans confirmed.
The latest emails, coming this weekend, will come from individual federal departments and agencies to their workers, not from the Office of Personnel Management, which was the case with the controversial initial round of emails last Saturday. And this time, the departments and agencies will have the discretion to decide the implications of not responding.
The mass emails, asking employees for “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week,” were the product of tech entrepreneur and senior White House adviser Elon Musk, who leads the administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
– Joey Garrison
Ax falls on Social Security
The Social Security Administration announced on Thursday a massive reorganization that will include “significant workforce reductions.”
The agency did not specify how many of its 60,000 employees they planned to cut. Reports put the figure anywhere from 10 to 50% of the workforce.
The impact of these terminations on Americans receiving Social Security benefits – around 72.5 million people – is unclear. However, some experts say the layoffs could result in processing slowdowns and long waits for help.
“A plan like this will result in field office closures that will hit seniors in rural communities the hardest,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, (D-Oregon), in a statement. "Firing half of all Social Security workers will guarantee that seniors will stop seeing their earned benefits arrive on time and in full.”
– Medora Lee
Which agencies learned of new developments this week?
Several federal agencies and departments with a wide range of responsibilities have felt an impact from the mandated downsizing.
The Department of Veterans Affairs laid off 1,400 workers Monday, bringing its termination total in the last few weeks to 2,400. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fired more than 880 of its employees – about 7% of the agency’s workforce – Thursday.
During his first Cabinet meeting, Trump signaled cuts were coming at the Environmental Protection Agency, saying he had spoken with the agency’s administrator, Lee Zeldin: "He thinks he's going to be cutting 65 – or so – percent of the people," Trump said Wednesday.
A White House official later clarified the president was referring to cutting the agency’s overall budget by 65%, an effort that would include staff cuts.
– Savannah Kuchar
Bigger cuts, beyond provisional and recently-promoted workers
Federal agencies and departments will have until March 13 to prepare for "large-scale reductions in force," according to a memo Wednesday from the offices of Personnel Management and Management and Budget.
Terminations thus far have targeted probationary employees, those recently hired or promoted, who have less robust employment protections than their colleagues. However, this round of cuts is expected to affect workers with full civil service protections.
"The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt," the memo reads. "At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public. Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens."
The memo also directed agencies and departments to submit by April 14 any plans for office relocations from Washington to "less-costly parts of the country."
−Joey Garrison
Ultimatum: Move to Washington – or else
While some workers are being asked to leave Washington for other parts of the country, that's not what's happening across-the-board for federal workers.
On Wednesday, at least two dozen employees at the Office of Personnel Management received an email informing them of their relocation to Washington and giving them until March 7 to decide if they'll accept, according to Reuters.
If these remote workers, some of whom live thousands of miles from the nation's capital, decline to move, their options for "continued employment with this agency may be limited, and the Agency may pursue an adverse action against you."
Union representatives and government experts told Reuters the ultimatum is another way to push more federal employees out of a job.
− Reuters
Federal judge blocks Trump's mass firings
The Trump administration hit a potential roadblock Thursday in its mass firings.
Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District temporarily blocked the layoffs, saying they were likely unlawful. Alsup ordered that the Office of Personnel Management – which he said was acting out of bounds by directing other agencies' personnel decisions – halt the firings.
“OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire or fire any employees, but its own," Alsup said.
Alsup did not order the rehiring of anyone already terminated.
− Kayla Jimenez
Contributing: Sarah D. Wire, Riley Beggin, Terry Collins, Dinah Voyles Pulver and Jessica Guynn; Reuters