"Today's layoffs are the work of White House Budget Director Russell Vought, a lead creator of the Project 2025 playbook, which planned a massive reduction in the federal workforce. In a post on X earlier today, Vought announced that the terminations "have begun." But as The Washington Post has previously reported, senior government officials have warned that Vought's layoffs amid a shutdown are likely illegal, running afoul of the Antideficiency Act."
"The law forbids the government from incurring new expenses during a shutdown, and the process of laying employees off-which includes severance packages-does just that. Federal employment lawyers told the Post that the move is almost certainly illegal for a second reason: Under federal regulations, a shutdown-driven lapse in funding does not count as one of the reasons federal employees can be terminated."
"In a statement today, AFGE National President Everett Kelley said, "It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country." "AFGE is currently challenging President Trump's illegal, unprecedented abuse of power, and we will not stop fighting until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded," Kelley said."
White House Budget Director Russell Vought initiated widespread federal layoffs tied to the Project 2025 plan and announced on X that the terminations "have begun." Senior government officials and federal employment lawyers contend that conducting layoffs during a shutdown likely violates the Antideficiency Act because severance packages and other termination-related costs constitute new expenses. Federal regulations do not list a shutdown-driven lapse in funding as an authorized reason to terminate federal employees, creating a separate legal vulnerability. The American Federation of Government Employees and other unions filed a lawsuit challenging plans to lay off workers during the shutdown. AFGE vowed to fight until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded.
Read at Ars Technica
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]