US department of education laying off more than 1,300 employees

The US department of education is firing 1,315 employees, leaving it with just over half the total number of workers before President Donald Trump’s took office.

The department had started sending termination notices from 6pm EST on Tuesday and this is in addition to the 63 probationary employees who were already fired earlier, Business Insider reported.

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The layoff round eliminates full teams deemed redundant or unnecessary and will not impact key functions such as federal student aid, grants for special needs students, and civil rights investigations.

Out of the total 4,133 staff of the department, 259 accepted the deferred resignation offer, 313 accepted the $25,000 voluntary buyout, and around 2,183 will continue to remain with the agency.

The fired employees have 90 days till they are officially terminated, and they will also receive their full pay as well as benefits during the time, along with severance payments which will follow.

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The laid off employees will be placed on administrative leave from March 21 onwards till the workforce reduction gets completed on June 9.

These terminations come just a week after Education Secretary Linda McMahon had outlined the department’s “final mission” which would include removing “bureaucratic barriers.”

In response, the American Federation of Government Employees local chapter president, Sheria Smith, said in a statement that the union will “fight these draconian cuts,” according to the report.

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“We will not stand idly by while this regime pulls the wool over the eyes of the American people,” the report quoted Smith as saying. “We have spent our careers supporting services that you rely on.”

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