Moratorium on federal employee layoffs lapses amid shutdown
Source: Roll Call
Posted February 27, 2026 at 6:09pm
A moratorium on federal employee layoffs lapsed at the start of the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, removing one hurdle faced by the Trump administration as it seeks to remake the size of the federal government. That doesn’t mean the government will face a clean path forward in implementing large-scale layoffs President Donald Trump outlined in executive orders last year, with legal challenges to the administration’s layoff efforts that appear far from over.
Congress put the provision to halt layoffs in a continuing resolution in November, part of a deal that ended the longest-ever partial government shutdown. But that provision expired this month when Congress could not come to an agreement on a Homeland Security funding bill.
Federal unions said in a court filing late last month that many federal agencies were forced to hold off on their full layoff plans throughout 2025 and into early 2026 because of litigation and that moratorium. But the unions in that filing point to an executive order from October and a government memo from November, as well as actions from Interior, State and Homeland Security departments, as signs of what’s to come.
“As 2026 begins, the Administration is poised to continue these efforts to downsize the government, including through additional mass terminations, if the CR language is not extended,” the unions wrote.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2026/02/27/moratorium-on-federal-employee-layoffs-lapses-amid-shutdown/