The federal government has been closed for more than two weeks.
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Unions representing federal workers say the Trump administration is planning massive layoffs at the Interior Department despite a court order temporarily blocking layoffs during the shutdown.
The disclosure comes amid a legal battle between the administration and two federal employee unions — the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — which have sued to block what they call “politically motivated RIFs,” or workforce cuts.
In a court filing late Thursday, plaintiffs' attorney Danielle Leonard wrote that “multiple credible sources” have reported that the Interior Department is actively preparing to lay off thousands of employees starting Monday.
“This immediately raised concerns about compliance with the court's order,” Leonard wrote in a statement. When the plaintiffs asked government lawyers about the lawsuit on Thursday afternoon, a Justice Department lawyer responded that “consistent with the court's order, we will provide the required information tomorrow.”
In response, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston agreed to extend the deadline she had set for the government to provide the court with “a report of all RIFs, actual or impending, that are required by this Act.” [temporary restraining order]”
Illston has now asked the government to provide details of the number of employees affected, as well as a description of the programs and activities targeted for cuts, by 2:00 pm ET Friday.
The Trump administration told the court this week that federal agencies have begun the RIF process at eight agencies, affecting just over 4,000 people. The slight downward revision from what the administration provided last Friday included the disclosure that approximately 800 Department of Health and Human Services employees had been erroneously sent layoff notices.
President Trump listens to other speakers after speaking during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on October 16.
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A statement from Office of Management and Budget senior adviser Stephen Billy stressed that “the situation… is fluid and rapidly evolving.”
Following Wednesday's hearing, Illston granted the unions a temporary restraining order, suspending the Oct. 10 layoff notices and preventing new layoffs until a permanent injunction hearing set for Oct. 28.
At Wednesday's hearing, Illston characterized the Trump administration's approach to RIF as “ready, fire, aim” and said the administration is trying to take advantage of the funding gap “to suggest that all bets are off, that the laws no longer apply to them and that they can impose structures they like on a government situation they don't like.”
In response, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt called Illston “another far-left partisan judge.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Leavitt added that the White House is confident in the legality of its actions and called the layoffs an “unfortunate consequence” of the government shutdown.
While the White House has promised “substantial” layoffs during the shutdown, layoffs announced so far only cover a fraction of the federal workers who have left the government since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Back in August, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said that approximately 300,000 federal employees would leave the government by the end of the year. OPM Director Scott Kupor told news outlets that 80% of those departures were voluntary.
That means that even before the shutdown, approximately 60,000 federal workers faced forced layoffs.
Another 154,000 workers took advantage of the Trump administration's “Fork in the Road” buyout offer, according to OPM. Many of those who accepted the buyout told NPR they feared they would be fired if they didn't leave.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vaught said Wednesday that about 10,000 people could receive layoff notices during the shutdown, shortly before a judge blocked the layoff plans from going into effect.
