Trump Administration announces reversal of planned job cuts by some agencies

In the midst of ongoing mass layoffs across various U.S. departments, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston is examining the legality of individual Reduction in Force (RIF) plans.

The departments of State, Education, and Health and Human Services (HHS) have already initiated layoffs, while the Veterans Affairs Department will only cut 30,000 workers instead of the originally planned 80,000. The department will not rely on RIFs for these reductions.

At HHS, some employees who faced layoffs received termination notices on Monday, while others remain on the rolls due to an injunction. The number of RIF actions affected by the injunction, according to Noah Peters, Senior Advisor at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is 70 actions at 19 agencies, not the previously stated 40 at 17 agencies.

Peters also mentioned that some agencies have decided not to proceed with some of the previously planned RIFs. However, he did not specify which agencies have altered their RIF plans. The OPM and the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum in February requiring agencies to submit reorganization and RIF plans, which are described as "living documents" that can change over time.

The Supreme Court has given federal agencies the authority to proceed with mass dismissals of employees. Yet, the Trump administration argues that RIF plans should not be made public, claiming they are moving targets. The administration has been asked to explain why it does not want to disclose the RIF plans, and has submitted a declaration from Noah Peters.

The Trump administration has argued that if the RIF plans are to be disclosed, the disclosures should be limited to the agencies listed by Noah Peters and allow for redactions. Judge Susan Illston, however, is not inclined to allow for significant redactions in the RIF plans.

The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) withdrew planned mass termination offers in January 2025 and instead offered incentivized voluntary separations and natural attrition as measures to reduce staff, allowing employees continued pay if they voluntarily left by early February 2025.

The court has not made a final decision on the legality of individual agency RIF plans, as Judge Susan Illston is still reviewing them. The Supreme Court has struck down two injunctions affecting agency RIFs, one for the Education department and another for most major federal agencies. Judge Susan Illston has stated that final decisions on the RIFs must have been made if her injunction was to pause them from taking effect.

Agencies such as Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, AmeriCorps, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, National Science Foundation, and OPM itself have requested RIF actions.

As the review process continues, the future of thousands of federal employees remains uncertain.