The Trump administration began laying off more than 4,000 federal workers yesterday, according to a court filing, as the government remains shut down because of Congress' inability to reach a funding deal.
Reduction-in-force notices were sent to federal workers across seven departments, with the Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services being the hardest hit and accounting for more than half of the total layoffs, according to a new Justice Department filing.
The court filing is in response to a lawsuit over the shutdown layoffs from the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO.
Federal employee unions had already sued the Trump administration over the Office of Management and Budget's threat to trigger mass firings of federal workers before the shutdown even began on Oct. 1.
Plaintiffs in that ongoing lawsuit filed a supplementary motion yesterday asking for an immediate temporary restraining order preventing the OMB from ordering agencies to conduct reductions in force.
Other affected agencies include the departments of Homeland Security, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Democrats are pushing back on the layoffs, saying that a shutdown does not require President Donald Trump to fire workers or give him new powers to do so, arguing the White House is being vindictive.
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