AFGE Local 252

Education Department pays over $7 million a month to employees forced to sit idle

From CNN

The US Department of Education is paying more than $7 million a month to employees it has forced to go on leave, according to analysis from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union that represents department employees.

The payments could continue for years amid a long court battle over cuts instituted by the Trump administration.

The department has already paid more than $21 million to idle employees over the last three months, AFGE has calculated, after they were terminated in March when the agency cut nearly half of its workforce. Roughly 1,300 people were laid off and hundreds more took voluntary “buyouts.”

Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers

From Bloomberg

The full effects of a drastic cost-cutting campaign are coming into focus as its billionaire architect departs from the government.

Fired, Rehired, Fired Again. Massive Federal Cuts Leave Black Workers Reeling

From Capital B

“I feel helpless. I feel like so much is out of my control,” one former employee says as the Trump administration targets USAID, AmeriCorps, and beyond.

‘It’s just devastating’: Federal workers grapple with canceled health insurance, bungled benefits after Trump’s layoff chaos

From CNN

Current and former federal employees are struggling to get their workplace benefits, including health insurance and pension payments, amid President Donald Trump’s chaotic efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

Education Department Targets Pregnant, LGBTQ Staff Protections

From Bloomberg

The US Department of Education is pushing to strip workplace protections for pregnant or LGBTQ staff, telling its employee union the policies must be changed to conform to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

The cost of being in Trump’s crosshairs: Public humiliation

From NBC News

It’s not only that the Trump administration is firing government employees en masse, or trying to swallow up neighboring Canada, or squeezing Ukraine, a democratic nation fighting off Russia’s invasion.

For those in the crosshairs, no small part of the ordeal is the public humiliation they’ve endured. The new administration has been rushing to execute its agenda and along the way has left a roadside trail of unsuspecting and, in some cases, helpless casualties.

Trump’s education cuts could lead to the problems he says he’s eliminating

From USAToday

In his first two months back at the White House, President Donald Trump has railed against rampant “waste, fraud and abuse” across the government.

That criticism, based in many cases on false and misleading claims about federal workers and programs, has fueled sweeping cuts. Another dramatic round of layoffs came last week when Trump staffers announced they’d slashed the workforce in half at the U.S. Department of Education.

What the Education Department layoffs could mean for students with disabilities

From NBC News

Massive layoffs initiated this week at the Education Department could hamstring the federal government’s efforts to assist students with disabilities, former officials and education experts said, citing blows to the agency’s civil rights and research divisions.

On Tuesday, the department began laying off around 1,300 employees, cutting nearly half the staff in its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and over 100 from the Institute of Education Sciences, according to information released by American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union for department staff members.

Education department slashed in half after Trump administration mass firings

From The Guardian

The Trump administration has decimated the US Department of Education, firing more than 1,300 employees in a single day in what looks to be the first step toward abolishing the agency entirely.

The mass dismissal – delivered by email after most staff had left for the day on Tuesday – has slashed the department’s workforce by half. Along with voluntary departures and probationary firings, the agency that started 2025 with 4,133 staff now operates with an estimated 2,100 employees two months into Donald Trump’s presidency.

‘It was messy’: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

From CNN

Millions of federal workers were ordered to return to offices across the country in recent weeks, marking an end to Covid-era rules allowing more flexibility to work from home.

Many have come back to workplaces that weren’t ready for them.

In one Department of Health and Human Services office, there was no Wi-Fi or full electricity in the first hours when people returned last week.

Department of Education employees at an office in Dallas returned to ethernet cords in piles around the floor, random wires sticking out of walls, and motion-sensor lights that weren’t working correctly, leading to dark workspaces. One employee tripped over a pile of cords on her first day back, resulting in a large gash on her foot. She’s submitted a workers’ compensation complaint.