2025 United States federal mass layoffs

2 weeks ago - About 300,000 United States federal civil service layoffs have been announced by the second Trump administration, almost all of them attributed to the Department of Government Efficiency. On August 26, 2025, the Partnership for Public Service said just under 200,000 federal workers had already ...

1 week ago - A Justice Department attorney argued rescinding layoffs now would be “logistically a big lift” for agencies, especially if courts later allow them to proceed. ... This story was updated at 9:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 17, to include details from Judge Susan Illston’s written preliminary injunction · A federal judge in San Francisco is reversing the terminations of hundreds of federal employees finalized during the recent government shutdown.

October 1, 2025: Federal government shutdown goes into effect, as the Congress is unable to reach a short-term spending deal to keep the government funded. October 10, 2025: The Trump administration sends layoff notices to thousands of federal ...

November 13, 2025 - Former federal employees say the nearly month-and-a-half freeze on severance payments has been a less visible part of the shutdown’s financial impact. ... A deal to end the longest government shutdown, expected to pass the House later today and head to President Donald Trump’s desk, rescinds layoff notices sent to thousands of federal employees in October.

1 week ago - Democratic lawmakers have said the shutdown-ending spending law made no carve out for RIFs that preceded the shutdown, noting it applied to any layoff-related action between Oct. 1 and Jan. 30. “No federal funds may be used to initiate, carry out, implement, or otherwise notice a reduction in force to reduce the number of employees within any department, agency, or office of the federal government” for the duration of the spending law, the continuing resolution ordered.

If you have lost your job or had your hours reduced because of the shutdown or a federal layoff (known as a Reduction in Force), you may qualify for unemployment benefits.

Federal workers who were laid off, out of work through no fault of their own, or affected by a government shutdown may apply for unemployment benefits.

1 week ago - Throughout President Trump’s second term, the Administration has aggressively abused its authority over federal personnel to impose mass layoffs through so-called “reductions in force” (RIFs), threatening the federal government’s ability to deliver critical public services affecting everything from public health to special education to consumer protection, among other important functions.

3 weeks ago - A federal court temporarily spared around 250 State Department from dismissals at the 11th hour Thursday evening, though around 800 additional federal employees across four agencies are still hoping to win a similar reprieve after Congress paused ...

1 week ago - The law that ended the recent government shutdown included provisions to reverse the terminations of some 4,000 workers and halt any further layoffs — a significant win for Democrats.

In the Federal Government, layoffs are called reduction in force (RIF) actions.

Federal workers and their unions ... order now bars layoffs based on the shutdown indefinitely for any offices of the federal government where members of the plaintiff unions, including AFSCME, work....

While the court has temporarily ... other federal employees serving the American public without pay during this shutdown. Current law does not permit agencies to conduct RIFs during a lapse in appropriations. This bill reaffirms and makes explicit Congress’s intent that no administration may use a shutdown as a pretext to initiate layoffs...

October 15, 2025 - The Trump administration pulled the trigger on layoffs across seven federal agencies on Friday, dismissing employees who handle a wide range of topics — from IRS matters like those Jackson works on to housing grants, special education programs ...

May 2, 2025 - Since shortly after the inauguration, the Trump Administration has made it a central goal to sharply reduce the number of federal workers, with little regard to the impact on the functioning of basic government services. This effort began with an attempt to encourage voluntary resignations through the so-called “fork in the road” initiative[1] and continued with the indiscriminate termination of probationary employees. It has now proceeded to large-scale layoffs through “reductions in force” (RIFs).[2]

3 weeks ago - The State Department and several ... say more federal employees are eligible for reinstatement than what the Trump administration has allowed. The American Foreign Service Association said last month that its interpretation of the continuing resolution passed by Congress on Nov. 12 blocks the State Department from moving forward with its layoff ...

October 17, 2025 - Mehmet Eser/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mehmet Eser/AFP via Getty Images · The Trump administration says it has paused work on only a small share of the roughly 4,000 mass layoffs announced since Oct.

November 12, 2025 - More than 4,000 federal workers lost their jobs at agencies across the government, including the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury.

On February 28th, Governor Wes Moore announced a series of additional actions to help Marylanders impacted by federal workforce layoffs, firings, and changes to federal funding. These actions reinforce the Moore-Miller Administration’s commitment to supporting Marylanders, while investing ...

October 11, 2025 - More than 4,000 workers across seven agencies will receive notices that their jobs are being cut, the government disclosed in a court filing.