The Trump administration laid off more than 4,100 employees Friday amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to a new court filing from the Justice Department.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had ordered the administration to hand over the information in a lawsuit government unions filed just before the shutdown began.
Hours ahead of the judge’s deadline, the White House budget office announced reductions in force (RIFs) were commencing after days of threats.
A senior administration official told The Hill the figures are “just a snapshot in time.”
“More RIFs are coming,” the official said.
Various agencies have since confirmed the layoffs, but the government’s new court filing provides the clearest picture yet of the breadth of the cuts.
The most significant layoffs took place at the Treasury Department, with 1,446 employees receiving RIF notices Friday.
The Department of Health and Human Services also saw major cutbacks, with roughly 1,100 to 1,200 employees affected, the filing states.
Friday’s RIFs also impacted approximately 466 Education Department employees, 442 Department of Housing and Urban Development employees, 315 Commerce Department employees, 187 Energy Department employees and 176 Department of Homeland Security employees.
Together, the counts mean at least 4,100 government staffers learned Friday they were losing their jobs.
It does not include upward of 30 staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency who were informed Friday they may soon be laid off and 126 staffers at the federal patent office who lost their jobs the first day of the shutdown.
“Other Defendant agencies (in addition to some of those agencies identified above) are actively considering whether to conduct additional RIFs related to the ongoing lapse in appropriations,” the Justice Department wrote in the filing.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which is the nation’s largest federal employee union, sued hours before government funding lapsed on Oct. 1 alongside the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
They are urging the judge to block any mass firings during the shutdown, saying the administration only has the authority to furlough workers, not permanently eliminate positions.
The lawsuit landed as the White House wielded the prospect of layoffs of federal workers and cuts to federal programs as a threat if Democrats did not vote with Republicans to reopen the government — a threat Trump is now following through on.
Illston, an appointee of former President Clinton who serves in San Francisco, had already set a hearing for next Thursday to consider the unions’ request.
But after the layoffs began unfolding Friday, the unions urged the judge to issue an order immediately halting the RIFs.
Illston agreed to move up the hearing by a day, but she did not block the layoffs in the meantime.
In its latest filing, the Justice Department told the judge she has no power to consider the unions’ claims and that their arguments fail anyway.
“But in their rush to pre-litigate the validity of potential future RIFs, Plaintiffs have ignored fundamental limitations on courts’ ability to hear claims arising out of the federal employment relationship and award emergency relief,” the Justice Department wrote.
Updated at 9:14 p.m. EDT
