Three people who know about the plans say that the U.S. Department of State is going to lay off 2,000 workers as soon as Friday.
Four sources stated that hundreds of foreign service officers would be let go as a result of the cuts. In May, the State Department sent Congress a plan for a major overhaul of the diplomatic agency. The plan called for getting rid of or merging more than 300 bureaus and agency offices and laying off 15% of the department’s 19,000 employees by July 1. However, the layoffs have been put on hold since a federal judge made a decision in mid-June.
The court order said that the Trump administration couldn’t fire a lot of people at government agencies. However, the Supreme Court could hear the case by the end of the week, and the State Department is hoping that they will rule in their favor.
The head of the American Foreign Service Association, Tom Yazdgerdi, said in a statement Wednesday that layoffs would be revealed by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. “The department can’t legally do any of the things that are in its reorganization plans unless the Supreme Court steps in.”
Tommy Pigott, Deputy Spokesperson for the State Department, told reporters Thursday, “We have no plans here at the department to violate a court order.” He did not, however, say more about the agency’s plans for a reduction in force.
Three of the sources say that agency leaders have been asked to book big conference rooms for Friday while the department waits for the Supreme Court to make a final ruling. Two sources say that some workers are already seeing that their HR files show that their jobs will end on July 1. One of the sources said that orders have been placed for more security, burn bags, moving boxes and carts, and even more Kleenex boxes, the other source said.
The May proposal says that as part of the State Department’s plan to reorganize, 3,500 jobs in the Civil Service and Foreign Service domestic workers will be cut. That includes up to 1,575 people who have already offered to leave.
