Reduction-in-force (RIF) notices were sent to more than 1,400 Treasury Department employees, many of whom work at the IRS, on Oct. 10 as the Trump administration acted on its threat of ordering mass layoffs at several federal agencies in response to the government shutdown.
On Friday, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), posted this one sentence to his X account just before 11:30 a.m.
The Trump administration filing, on behalf of the OMB, was in response to a court order stemming from a lawsuit filed Sept. 30 by the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions challenging the administration’s authority to conduct mass firings during a shutdown, Roll Call reported.
The document also made clear that additional layoffs are possible because some agencies have yet to decide whether to conduct RIFs or have made preliminary decisions that aren’t yet finalized.
The administration provided the U.S. District Court of Northern California with a list showing the number of firings announced on Oct. 10. The approximate number of layoffs for those affected departments include:
- Commerce Department: 315 employees
- Education Department: 466 employees
- Energy Department: 187 employees
- Department of Health and Human Services: Between 1,100 and 1,200 employees
- Department of Housing and Urban Development: 442 employees
- Department of Homeland Security: 176 employees
- Treasury Department: 1,446 employees
The decision to move ahead with layoffs marked an escalation in a White House pressure campaign against Senate Democrats, who have refused to back a House-passed continuing resolution to reopen the government. Democrats say they’re determined to extend expiring health insurance subsidies that would force a doubling of insurance premiums next year if they lapse.
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IRS impact
Bloomberg Tax reported Friday that approximately 1,300 workers at the IRS received RIF notices—across all divisions and include both those furloughed and still working during the shutdown. When selecting who to layoff, the agency identified many people who do back-office work like scheduling, support services, and communications, according to the report.
Unions are already asking for a judge to block the move.
Employees in IT, the programs and business solutions group in the Large Business and International division, and operations support in the Small Business/Self-Employed division were among those who received layoff notices, according to posts on Reddit. In addition, Politico reported that IRS University, a department that trains new hires and existing employees, was also targeted.
The notices were sent to employees’ work and personal emails.
Those receiving RIF notices from the IRS were told their layoff would begin on Dec. 9. Each person received severance information in their notice, according to posts on Reddit. It’s unclear at this point whether the RIFs will be rescinded when the shutdown ends.
The notice, one of which was posted online by an IT employee, said, in part:
This memorandum constitutes your official Reduction in Force (RIF) notice which will be effective on December 9, 2025.
The Internal Revenue Service has determined it is necessary to abolish some positions in INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY to further workforce shaping efforts.
To conduct the RIF, retention registers were prepared which list employees in retention standing order by civil service tenure group and subgroup, veterans’ preference, performance ratings, and length of Federal service.
Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents workers in 38 federal agencies and offices, said in a statement on Friday, “NTEU can confirm that it has received notification from several members that reduction-in-force notices have been issued 10 days into a government shutdown.
“Federal employees are like every other middle-class American. And now, on top of being furloughed, many will learn that their careers in the civil service might end. These actions are un-American and undeserving of the men and women who’ve dedicated their careers to providing services Americans need and rely on. NTEU will challenge these RIFs,” she added. “It’s a sad day in our country when we allow representatives of the government to put politics over the needs of the people, dismantle federal agencies we rely on, gut services Americans depend on, and use federal employees as political pawns by furloughing and proposing to fire them all to try to cause pressure in a political game of chicken. Americans want their elected leaders to work together for the good of all Americans and want a country that operates efficiently. I urge all Americans to stand with federal employees and join us as we call on Congress and the administration to stop using federal employees as political pawns, follow the law, do their jobs, and work together to pass a budget that reopens the government and provides adequate resources to deliver services Americans rely on.”
The RIFs come just days after the Treasury Department released an updated shutdown contingency plan for the IRS, which shows that 34,429 IRS employees out of 74,299 have been furloughed until the shutdown ends.
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Jaime Doxey, a 15-year IRS veteran and second vice president of the local NTEU chapter in Ogden, UT, told KUER in Salt Lake City that she has her daughter’s wedding coming up in Nevada. She’s worried about whether she’ll have a job when she gets back.
“[Shutdown-exempt employees] were advised that if we use more than eight hours or 10 hours of our leave, whatever our shift is, once we hit that mark, then they are going to furlough us,” she said, referencing a policy change that was communicated verbally to the IRS workforce last week.
Krystle Kirkpatrick, who manages communications for the union chapter, told KUER that she’s canceled doctors’ appointments due to the risk of being furloughed.
“I can’t pay my bills with uncertainty,” she said.
When the shutdown began, she was scheduled to care for her 8-month-old niece while the infant’s parents were on vacation. After hearing the new policy, her managers helped her work out a flexible schedule to get her hours in. Others haven’t been as lucky. One co-worker canceled a doctor’s appointment scheduled three hours away for fear of being furloughed, she said.
“A lot of chaos happens when they disseminate information inconsistently,” Kirkpatrick said.
The agency started 2025 with more than 100,000 employees, thanks to a big hiring push after the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. However, since President Donald Trump took office in January, the IRS has lost about 25% of its workforce due to early retirements and employees taking other incentives, like the deferred resignation program, to leave the agency.
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Just under 300 IRS employees received reduction-in-force notices this year, according to a July report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. They were in the civil rights and compliance, taxpayer experience, and equity, diversity, and inclusion offices.
In August, Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent said the agency had no more RIFs planned, Bloomberg Tax reported.
Tribune News Services contributed to this article.
Photo credit: Natalia Bratslavsky/iStock
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