Government Executive, Management, Eric Katz, Senior Correspondent, April 2, 2025
he Agriculture Department is warning its employees it will soon identify “duplicative” or “redundant” functions to eliminate, including through the closure of offices throughout the Washington region.
The changes will result in widespread layoffs across the department of nearly 100,000 employees, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a message to staff on Tuesday, who issued the cautionary note to encourage workers to voluntarily leave government. Like several other agencies in recent days, USDA reopened the window to take paid leave through September before separating from federal service. The so-called “deferred resignation program” was first offered to virtually all federal employees in February and around 75,000 workers accepted the deal.