4,000 federal workers fired due to ongoing government shutdown

The Trump administration revealed in a court filing that more than 4,000 federal workers were fired Friday as a result of the ongoing partial government shutdown. The mass layoffs will affect government workers in at least seven Cabinet-level agencies, according to the document filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California, where federal employee labor unions are suing to stop the Trump administration from downsizing amid the lapse in federal funding. The bulk of the layoffs took place at the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services, where approximately 1,446 employees and up to 1,200, respectively, were axed. The Department of Education fired 466 employees; the Department of Housing and Urban Development let go of 442 employees; the Department of Commerce terminated 315 employees; the  Department of Energy cut 187 employees; and the Department of Homeland Security laid off 176 employees. The Justice Department filing notes that other agencies have issued “a general ‘intent to RIF’ notice.”The Environmental Protection Agency, for example, notified approximately 20-30 employees that they may be fired in the future. The United States Patent and Trademark Office separately issued shutdown-related RIF notices to 126 employees on Oct.1.“Other Defendant agencies (in addition to some of those agencies identified above) are actively considering whether to conduct additional RIFs related to the ongoing lapse in appropriations,” the DOJ wrote in the filing.  “Other Defendant agencies have made predecisional assessments regarding offices and subdivisions that may be considered for potential RIFs based on the criteria outlined in the OPM Lapse Email.

But those assessments remain under deliberation and are not final,” the document noted. The Trump administration argued that since the RIF notices “call for separation of employment within 30 or 60 days” – the mandatory notice period the government is ...