Education Department pays over $7 million a month to employees forced to sit idle

The US Department of Education is paying more than $7 million a month to employees it has forced to go on leave, according to analysis from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union that represents department employees.

The US Department of Education is paying more than $7 million a month to employees it has forced to go on leave, according to analysis from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union that represents department employees. The payments could continue for years amid a long court battle over cuts instituted by the Trump administration. The department has already paid more than $21 million to idle employees over the last three months, AFGE has calculated, after they were terminated in March when the agency cut nearly half of its workforce. Roughly 1,300 people were laid off and hundreds more took voluntary “buyouts.” The firings were part of President Donald Trump’s larger plan to dismantle the Department of Education and promise to deliver efficiencies through cuts across government. Dozens of other agencies have faced cuts in recent months, with workers in those departments facing similar situations. Under the terms of the layoffs, affected Department of Education workers were to be paid their salaries until June 9, their last day of employment. However, following a May federal court decision blocking White House plans to shut down the agency, the workers were reinstated and placed on “administrative leave” — meaning they are employed but not allowed to work — as lawsuits continue.