The State Department will finalize its layoffs of 250 foreign service officers on Friday, according to a new notice sent to impacted staff, despite a congressionally mandated moratorium on the cuts through January.
State announced sent reduction-in-force notices to 1,350 employees in July. Most of those workers were civil servants who were terminated in September. Those in the foreign service, however, were required to receive 120 days notice, meaning they were due for dismissal in November. Due to the government shutdown and a court order pausing federal layoffs, those cuts did not move forward at that time.
The shutdown ended when President Trump signed into law a measure extending funding through January for most agencies, which also banned the administration from taking any action to execute a RIF.
“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.
Still, the Trump administration is moving forward with the RIFs at State. Impacted employees received a message this week stating that they would be separated on Dec. 5. State said its Office of Legal Adviser made the decision after receiving “formal written guidance from both the Office of Management and Budget and Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.”
The layoffs, State said, do not violate the language of the recently passed spending bill because the RIF notices were sent prior to the shutdown. Federal News Network first reported the new layoff date.
The Trump administration has rescinded RIF notices sent to nearly 4,000 employees during the shutdown, but is moving forward with those that initially preceded the funding lapse.
One soon-to-be former foreign service officer, a former attorney, called the administration’s legal argument “absolute BS.”
“They are moving quickly and basically saying, ‘Sue us,’” the employee said, adding that impacted staff are speaking to legal counsel and talking to lawmakers’ offices.
The American Foreign Service Association said on Tuesday the administration’s legal interpretations cannot change what is plainly written in law and vowed to pursue legal action.
“This action flies in the face of the current funding law, which clearly prohibits using any federal resources to carry out layoffs during this period,” AFSA said. “That includes sending notices, processing paperwork, or taking any step to advance these separations.”
The legally dubious layoff date marks the latest in the whirlwind of State’s RIF process. After sending the notices, citing bureaucratic bloat, it began onboarding new officers in September. In August, as the FSOs awaited their official terminations, many of those impacted by RIFs received promotions.
Other agencies have also proceeded with layoffs despite the spending law’s prohibition. The Small Business Administration originally sent RIF notices to around 75 employees in April and after a series of delays was set to separate them in October. After further delay due to the shutdown, SBA last month sent the employees an updated message saying the layoffs were canceled due to the CR. The following day, SBA sent a new message to the roughly 75 impacted employees saying the RIFs were back on and they should ignore the previous communication. Both notices were obtained by Government Executive.
OMB and Justice originally told SBA it had to rescind the RIFs, according to an employee briefed on the matter, but the following day the Office of Personnel Management intervened and said the CR was not intended to interfere with SBA’s layoffs and the agency should move forward. The employees were officially separated from the agency, retroactive to Oct. 29.
The General Services Administration is also proceeding with RIFs it first noticed prior to the shutdown but which took effect after it ended, as first reported by The New York Times.
