Trump Education Department calls back 260 staff it tried to fire

Liam Knox, Bloomberg News on Dec 5, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has ordered more than 260 federal workers it has been trying to fire since March to return to work on Dec. 15 while a court case over their final status drags on.

The staffers at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigates claims of discrimination in schools, were sent an email Friday telling them to prepare to return to work, according to copies of the message seen by Bloomberg. The workers were put on paid leave in March as part of an attempted “reduction in force,” or RIF.

The Education Department made clear in the message that while the Trump administration continues to support their eventual dismissals, it wants them back this month to “contribute to the enforcement of existing civil rights complaints.”

“The Department remains committed to defending the RIF as the government-wide effort to reorient and right-size the federal workforce continues,” according to the email.

The Education Department saw its roughly 4,000-person workforce cut in half in March. Most of those firings were backed by a Supreme Court ruling in the Trump administration’s favor in July, but workers in the Office for Civil Rights have been stuck in legal limbo, placed on administrative leave with full salaries and benefits while a separate case is adjudicated.

Julie Hartman, a spokesperson for the department, confirmed the email. She said the administration is still pursuing the RIF, but will “temporarily” bring back “all employees currently being compensated by American taxpayers.”