Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Department of Transportation Employees 'Bracing' for Layoffs

Employees at the Department of Transportation are preparing for a round of layoffs, according to new reports.

DOT officials told CBS News that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a town hall last week that personnel cuts are coming "soon." The reductions are part of the Trump administration's quest to reduce the number of federal employees.

While it's unclear how many employees will be laid off, the number will depend on the amount of workers who accept an initial buyout offer through the department's deferred resignation program.

“The DRP will end. We'll look at the numbers. We're going to do the RIF. We're going to know at the end of May what that looks like,” Duffy said, according to audio obtained by Government Executive. “I don't have plans after that. I can't say we're all done. I don't have plans to do anything else but what we're doing right now, and I have faith that we can do more with less.”

The DRP was open for a week at the beginning of April, but employees 40 and older have until May 22 to decide whether or not to accept a buyout.

Sean Duffy, US secretary of transportation, at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, April 24, 2025. The International Monetary Fund sharply lowered its forecasts for world growth for this year and next, warning the outlook could deteriorate further as US President Donald Trump's tariffs spark a global trade war. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg/Getty Images

A DOT spokesperson told the Government Executive that nearly 4,000 employees applied for the second round of the DRP.

In 2024, the DOT employed more than 57,000 people. 

Despite the ongoing pledges to reduce the federal workforce, Duffy has insisted that the cuts won't affect his plans to revamp and revitalize the air traffic control system.

“We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks," Duffy said Monday on Fox News.

“We’re going to build a brand-new air traffic control system — from new telecom, to new radars, to new infrastructure. We’re bringing on new air traffic controllers. This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we’re going to fix it.”



from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/NW9uzba

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