U.S. Department of Education employees caught in the Trump administration's reduction in force say they are being terminated against the terms of their bargaining agreement. The union representing them, American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, is seeking to delay the department's termination date as a result.
It filed a grievance against the department on Wednesday, claiming the new Aug. 1 termination date only gives employees two weeks rather than the required 60-day notice. The department put in place the new termination date after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision greenlighting the layoffs.
On July 14, the Supreme Court allowed the department to move forward with a mass termination of over 1,000 employees originally announced in March. The department, in turn, notified employees that their new separation date was Aug. 1 rather than the previously announced date of June 9 — which got delayed due to the legal challenges.
The union claims, however, that the department must re-start its RIF process — which requires longer notice than two weeks and a briefing — since it walked back its March RIF due to blocks from the lower courts.
During that time, the department sent RIF'd employees multiple emails over the course of a few months saying they were planning for the employees' reentry into the office, the AFGE Local 252 grievance document says. "We are actively assessing how to reintegrate you back to the office in the most seamless way possible," a June 6 email from the department told employees on administrative leave.
The Education Department, however, says its termination date set two weeks after the Supreme Court's decision complies with the 60-day notice period required within the collective bargaining agreement.
"The CBA does not specify that the agency must provide 60 consecutive days’ notice," said Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications, in an email to K-12 Dive. "ED is now providing affected employees with, in total, more than 60 days’ notice."
The union's grievance is the latest wrinkle in the Trump administration's efforts to wind down the department, which have been met with resistance and criticism from former department employees, lawmakers and some public education advocates concerned about the agency’s effectiveness with only half of its staff remaining.
While these wrinkles unfold, the department has been spending $7 million in taxpayer dollars per month to pay workers on leave.
That dollar amount is only for 833 of the 962 laid-off Education Department workers that the union represents and whom it was able to reach for its analysis. Thus, much more than $7 million is actually being spent per month to keep the more than 1,300 laid-off employees on payroll.
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