Rif Watch See Which Agencies Are Laying Off Federal Workers

The Trump administration laid off around 4,000 people on Oct. 10 across seven agencies, but the reductions are currently blocked under a court order. Celal Gunes / Anadolu / Getty Images The Supreme Court earlier this year has allowed the Trump administration to resume mass reductions in force, though large swaths of the federal government are once again blocked from issuing layoffs under a new... Many agencies have sent out RIF notices in the previous 10 months, with a new wave commencing during the government shutdown. These layoffs are separate from the mass firings of probationary employees in the early months of the administration, which led to the removal of at least 25,000 workers.

See our tracker of those firings here. An executive order and subsequent guidance in February from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management called for the “maximum elimination” of federal agency functions not required by law. As a starting point for the cuts, OMB and OPM said, agencies should focus on employees whose jobs are not required in statute and who face furloughs in government shutdowns—typically around one-third of the... Several agencies have eliminated offices wholesale and slashed their regional offices across the country. The administration laid off around 4,000 people on Oct. 10 across seven agencies.

The cuts followed through on a threat from President Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought to inflict pain on the federal workforce as a consequence of the government shutdown. The White House on Friday announced it was moving forward with layoffs of federal employees, making good on its threats amid the government shutdown. Multiple agencies have confirmed their staff have received notices about reductions in force (RIFs). In a Friday filing from the Department of Justice (DOJ), it stated that 4,100 federal employees had been laid off so far. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced layoffs would begin Friday, a day after the Senate failed to pass rival GOP and Democratic bills to end the shutdown. Employees unions have vowed to challenge the firings in court, and Democrats and even some Republicans have criticized the move as one that turns federal workers into political pawns and threatens critical government services.

Here are the agencies The Hill knows are affected. Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), speaks with reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House in July 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption More than a week into the government shutdown, layoffs of federal workers have begun, following through on administration threats to slash the size of government during the shutdown. In a court filing late Friday, lawyers for the government wrote that an estimated 4,200 employees across at least seven agencies began receiving reduction in force, or RIF, notices on Oct. 10.

The declaration, from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) senior advisor Stephen Billy, came in response to an order from the federal judge assigned to a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's shutdown layoffs. Word that layoffs were underway first came from OMB Director Russell Vought in a social media post on X that said, "The RIFs have begun." The U.S. Office of Personnel Management develops policy and provides guidance to Federal agencies regarding Reduction in Force (RIF). This page serves as a portal to assist you in locating pertinent information and content related to RIF in the Federal Government. When an agency must abolish positions, the RIF regulations determine whether an employee keeps his or her present position, or whether the employee has a right to a different position.

The regulatory requirements governing reduction in force are contained in Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 351. Federal agencies must follow the procedures contained in the Code of Federal Regulations when conducting a RIF. The law provides that OPM's RIF regulations must give effect to four factors in releasing employees: An agency is required to use the RIF procedures when an employee is faced with separation or downgrading for a reason such as reorganization, lack of work, shortage of funds, insufficient personnel ceiling, or... A furlough of more than 30 calendar days, or of more than 22 discontinuous work days, is also a RIF action. (A furlough of 30 or fewer calendar days, or of 22 or fewer discontinuous work days, is an adverse action.)

This site provides general and detailed information and guidance on RIF procedures. Click the Tabs for general information about: The Trump administration pushed forward Friday with plans to fire federal employees amid the government shutdown, directing reductions-in-force at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Housing and Urban Development, among other... Prior to and during the current shutdown, the White House repeatedly threatened to lay off additional federal workers in a bid to further its efforts to shrink the size of the government. The Trump administration maintains Democrats are to blame for the shutdown, though Democrats contend that a spending bill from Republicans — who control all levers of power — wouldn’t adequately fund health care. Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, posted on X early Friday afternoon that the “RIFs have begun,” without offering additional details.

An OMB spokesperson told FedScoop the RIFs began and are “substantial.” In a preview of his discussions with Vought last week, President Donald Trump said in a post to his social media platform that... Deploying artificial intelligence requires taking on the right amount of risk to achieve a desired end result, a National Institute of Standards and Technology official who worked on its risk management framework for the... While federal agencies, and particularly IT functions, are generally risk averse, risks can’t entirely be avoided with AI, Martin Stanley, an AI and cybersecurity researcher at the Commerce Department standards agency, said during a... Stanley said: “You have to manage risks, number one,” adding that the benefits from the technology are compelling enough that “you have to go looking to achieve those.” Stanley’s comments came in response to... On that point specifically, he said the NIST AI Risk Management Framework “shares a lot of DNA” with Federal Reserve guidance on algorithmic models in financial services. He said NIST attempted to leverage those approaches and the same plain, simple language.

“We talk about risks, we talk about likelihoods, and we talk about impacts, both positive and negative, so that you can build this trade space where you are taking on the right amount of... The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube. We discuss the latest news and trends facing government leaders on such topics as technology, management and workforce. The program will explore headlines of the day as well as in depth discussions with top executives in both government and industry. Reportedly the biggest layoff of probationary federal workers so far under new Trump administration orders started Thursday at the Internal Revenue Service, where 6,700 employees are expected to be terminated.

The Trump administration directed the IRS, like other federal agencies, to let go of workers who have not yet acquired civil service protections due to shorter tenures, typically below one or two years of... This includes new employees, temporary and seasonal employees, but also in some cases those who have switched jobs, according to reports. Specialized news site Government Executive writes that those directly involved in critical roles during tax filing season - which is currently underway - are not included in the order. The number of announced layoffs tallied by Statista now tops 16,000. This is in addition to the reported number of 75,000 federal employees who took buyouts offered by the Trump administration. Still, both numbers combined make up less than 4 percent of the 2.4 million-strong non-military and non-postal federal workforce.

While probationary employees have fewer protections, there could still be challenges as poor performance was repeatedly cited as a standardized reason for termination - which is expected to lead to appeals, once more highlighting... This is also true for the planned dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, fired Inspectors General and potentially the Department of Education. Starting mid-February, announcements concerning the layoffs of probationary employees commenced at other departments and agencies of the U.S. government. According to reports from outlets catering to federal employees and the healthcare sector, 5,200 were slated to receive termination notices at the Department of Health and Human Services. Widely reported was the layoff of 1,300 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, equal to 10 percent of its workforce.

Cuts were also being carried out at the National Institutes of Health, including many nurses, as well as the Food and Drug Administration and Medicare, according to the reports. Some FDA cuts have since been rescinded as workers were deemed important for ongoing product reviews. The same happened for some employees of the Indian Health Service, the National Nuclear Security Administration (Department of Energy) and workers in the federal bird flu response (Department of Agriculture). At the U.S. Forest Service alone, 3,400 employees or 10 percent or workers were on termination lists, while the number at the Department of Agriculture, which overseas it, was unclear. Another 1,000 people were reported to be receiving letters of termination at the National Park Service at the Department of the Interior, which laid off a total of 2,300.

While around 80 percent of the federal workforce is not located in Washington D.C., this is even more true of the Forest Service and the National Park Service, whose employees are scattered around the... The announcement caused outrage, for example, in Oregon or Montana, impacting small towns and remote areas at times. While no fire-fighting employees were let go, the move would still increase the danger of wildfires, according to Forest Service employees, as those studying and mitigating them are affected. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees face furloughs daily amid the shutdown, with potential RIFs as agencies adjust to funding lapses and budget priorities. Now that a government shutdown is underway, how many federal employees could be furloughed? According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), as many as 750,000 federal employees have the potential to be furloughed each day at a total daily cost of $400 million.

That dollar figure is the total daily cost of their compensation, which of course would have to eventually be paid out as back pay. To put that figure into perspective, if the shutdown were to go for a week, that is $2.8 billion. CBO notes in its report that the number of furloughed federal employees could vary by the day because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer the shutdown drags on while others might recall... Here are the agencies where we have confirmed layoffs have taken or are about to take place. We will update as we learn more. The Trump administration has given agencies a March 13 deadline to finalize their plans to slash their workforces through layoffs.

Not all agencies are waiting that long, however, and some have either already started sending out reduction-in-force notices or have explained their plans to do so. The upcoming layoffs are separate from the mass firings of probationary employees, which led to the removal of at least 25,000 workers. See our tracker of those firings here. A President Trump executive order and subsequent guidance from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management has to plan for the “maximum elimination” of federal agency functions not required... As a starting point for the cuts, OMB and OPM said, agencies should focus on employees whose jobs are not required in statute and who face furloughs in government shutdowns—typically around one-third of the... Agencies are expected to eliminate some offices wholesale and slash their regional offices across the country.

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