Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, WHITE HOUSE NEWS—Trump executive order seeks to significantly reduce size of federal government, (Feb 12, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The EO requires agency heads to promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force.

An executive order (EO) from President Donald J. Trump implements the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) workforce optimization initiative. The EO will significantly reduce the size of the government with “efficiency improvements and attrition,” including large-scale reductions in force and the elimination or combination of agency components and agencies themselves. The White House released a fact sheet to accompany the EO.

Hiring freeze. Under the hiring freeze issued by the president on January 20, 2025, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must submit a plan to reduce the size of the federal government’s workforce. The plan must require that each agency hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.

Career appointment hires. The EO requires each agency head to develop a data-driven plan in consultation with its DOGE team lead to ensure new career appointment hires are in highest-need areas; it also requires that new career appointment hiring decisions be made in consultation with the agency’s DOGE team lead. Each DOGE team lead is required to provide the US DOGE Service (USDS) administrator with a monthly hiring report for its agency.

Reductions in force. The EO states that agency heads must promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs) and to separate from federal service temporary employees and reemployed annuitants working in areas that will likely be subject to the RIFs. All offices that perform functions not mandated by statute or other law must be prioritized in the RIF, the EO states, including all agency diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and all agency initiatives, components, or operations that the Trump administration suspends or closes.

Rulemaking. The EO requires that, within 30 days of the date of the order, the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must initiate a rulemaking that proposes to revise 5 C.F.R. §731.202(b) to include additional suitability criteria, including: (1) failure to comply with generally applicable legal obligations, including timely filing of tax returns; (2) failure to comply with any provision that would preclude regular federal service, including citizenship requirements; (3) refusal to certify compliance with any applicable nondisclosure obligations and failure to adhere to those compliance obligations in the course of federal employment; and (4) theft or misuse of government resources and equipment, or negligent loss of material government resources and equipment.

Reorganization plans. Within 30 days of the date of the EO, agency heads must submit to the director of the OMB a report identifying any statutes that establish the agency or subcomponents of the agency as statutorily required entities. The report must also discuss whether the agency or any of its subcomponents should be eliminated or consolidated.

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