Education Department says civil rights workers are trying to lay off workers
OCR employees were laid off in March as part of broader layoffs at the Department of Education.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Department of Education is calling on Office of Civil Rights employees who were laid off earlier this year to return to work.
The Trump administration tried to lay off half of the Department of Education’s OCR staff in March, but since then it has been paying them for not working while continuing to deal with lawsuits challenging its plan. The department said it has not given up on defending the move, but now says it is “important to refocus OCR’s efforts and utilize all OCR staff to prioritize OCR’s existing complaint caseload.”
“In order for OCR to utilize all available resources to fulfill its mission, all Individuals currently receiving compensation from the department are required to meet employee performance expectations and contribute to enforcement of existing civil rights complaints, the department said in an email obtained Friday. Inside higher education. “Utilizing all OCR employees, including those currently on administrative leave, will enhance and refocus enforcement activities that serve and benefit parents, students and families.”
One email gave an employee a return date of December 15th, while another said December 29th. It’s unclear how many workers will return. Bloomberg According to reports, “more than 260” orders have been placed, while USA Today The department was quoted as saying “about 250 people,” but the Associated Press said it was “a few dozen.” Inside higher education Awaiting clarification from relevant authorities.
Rachel Gittleman, president of Local 252 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents department employees, said her union has not yet learned how many workers in its bargaining unit received the email. “While we are relieved that these public servants are finally being allowed to return to work, Education Minister Linda McMahon has made it clear that she would rather play politics than fulfill her responsibility to protect students’ rights,” she said in a statement on Monday.
“For more than nine months, hundreds of Office for Civil Rights (OCR) employees have been unable to participate in the important work of protecting our nation’s most vulnerable students and families,” Gittleman said. She said the government’s actions by keeping these employees unemployed and furloughed “wasted more than $40 million in taxpayer funds.”
“Department leadership prevented OCR staff from doing their jobs, resulting in a massive backlog of civil rights complaints, and now expects these staff to clean up a crisis entirely of the department’s own making,” she added.
