Trump administration sends layoff notices to more than 4,000 workers during government shutdown

The Trump administration has begun laying off thousands of federal workers in an effort to pressure Democrats amid the ongoing government shutdown.

“RIFs have begun,” White House Management Office Director Russell Vought announced Friday morning in an article on X, referring to the acronym for “force reductions.”

A spokesperson for his office confirmed the cuts had begun and were “substantial.” Their size and scope began to emerge later Friday, when the administration revealed that seven agencies had begun laying off more than 4,000 workers.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use the shutdown to further his long-held goal of downsizing the federal workforce.

By law, the federal government must give its workers at least 30 days’ notice before laying them off.

After Vought’s tweet, major departments such as Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed they were sending notices to employees, and Homeland Security, where many of its employees are considered essential, announced it would lay off employees from its cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency.

But exact details were scarce.

Two major unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO, had filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of Vought’s announced plans to carry out layoffs during the shutdown.

On Friday, after saying the process had begun, they asked a federal court in Northern California to temporarily block the move.

“It is shameful that the Trump administration used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally lay off thousands of workers who provide essential services to communities across the country,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley.

In their opposition to the temporary restraining order, OMB lawyers revealed which agencies and how many of their employees would be affected first, saying approximately 4,600 employees would receive notices of the FIR starting Friday.

“The President, through OMB, has determined that the agencies should operate more efficiently and directed them to consider measures to optimize their staffing levels in light of the continued appropriations shortfall,” Justice Department lawyers argued in the filing.

More than a quarter of the cuts would be made at the Treasury Department, where notices have been sent to about 1,446 employees.

HHS was warning between 1,100 and 1,200 employees, according to the filing.

The Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development planned to lay off at least 400 employees each, while the departments of Commerce, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security each planned cuts ranging from 176 to 315 employees, according to the filing.

There was no indication of the number of advisories issued by the agencies Friday.

The filing also says 20 to 30 people at the Environmental Protection Agency received a notice of “intent to RIF” on Friday, informing them they could be affected in the future. Other federal agencies could also make cuts.

A spokesperson for the White House budget office told the BBC on Saturday that the layoffs were just the beginning.

“These FIR numbers from the court file are just a snapshot in time,” he said. “More RIFs are coming.”

Government lawyers said the unions failed to establish that their members would be irreparably harmed by the layoffs, which is necessary for the judge to grant the restraining order. But they said a ban order would “irreparably harm the government.”

A temporary restraining order would prevent agencies from “determining how best to organize their workforce,” they argued, noting that the government has traditionally been given the greatest latitude in “managing its own internal affairs.”

The layoffs are unprecedented. In previous shutdowns, furloughed employees returned to work when the government reopened and were paid retroactively for their absence.

Furloughed workers and “essential” workers who must continue to perform their duties are not paid when government funding is temporarily interrupted.

The current shutdown began 10 days ago, after lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a funding measure intended to keep the government open.

“They waited ten days,” Republican Senator John Thune told reporters, referring to the White House. “At some point, they’re going to have to make some of these decisions and prioritize where they’re going to spend the money when the government is shut down.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, accused Trump and Vought of causing “deliberate chaos.”

Democrats have refused to vote for a Republican spending plan that would reopen the government, saying any resolution must preserve expired tax credits that lower health insurance costs for millions of Americans and reverse Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, the health program for seniors and low-income people.

Republicans accuse Democrats of needlessly shutting down the government and blame them for the consequences caused by the federal work stoppage.

A shutdown meant “non-essential” federal workers would be placed on unpaid leave. It currently affects about 40% of the federal workforce, or about 750,000 people.

Furloughed employees are legally supposed to receive back pay once the shutdown ends and they return to work, but the Trump administration has insinuated that might not happen.

Dramatically reducing the federal workforce is a long-term priority for Vought.

The president and his budget chief welcomed the shutdown as a unique opportunity to make more layoffs, on top of the thousands of budget cuts they have made since Trump returned to office in January, through a combination of layoffs, buyouts, administrative furloughs and resignations.

The Partnership for Public Service, a bipartisan group that studies government, estimated that the federal workforce had been reduced by about 200,000 employees as of September 23.

Career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported last month that the government sector announced 299,755 planned job cuts this year, of which 289,363 were federal workers affected by the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), the White House cost-cutting effort initially led by billionaire Elon Musk.

Before the shutdown, Vought’s office asked federal agencies to prepare downsizing plans aimed at eliminating staff or programs whose funding might expire or were “not consistent with the president’s priorities,” Politico reported.

A day after the shutdown began, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had met with Vought “to determine which of the many Democratic agencies, most of which are a political scam, he recommends eliminating, and whether or not these cuts will be temporary or permanent.”