WASHINGTON — Facing a backlog of discrimination cases in schools, the U.S. Department of Education has asked hundreds of employees it laid off months ago to temporarily return to work.
A Dec. 5 email obtained by USA TODAY shows the agency ordered most of the Office for Civil Rights staff to come back later this month. In the “return to duty” directive, officials acknowledged the high number of civil rights complaints they face and stressed the need to use every resource at the government’s disposal to address them.
The agency said the requirement applies to about 250 employees who have been on administrative leave for several months as they face legal challenges to their March firings. Julie Hartman, press secretary for legal affairs at the Department of Education, emphasized that there are currently no plans to fully rehire these workers permanently.
Read more: Fired Department of Education staff says ‘battle is not over yet’
“The Department of Justice will continue to appeal the ongoing litigation dispute over the layoffs, but in the meantime it will utilize all employees currently being compensated by the U.S. taxpayer,” she said in a statement to USA TODAY.
The shift is the latest chapter in a months-long saga that has upended one of the federal Education Department’s most important offices and that President Donald Trump has vowed to close.
Read more: Trump just made it harder to close the Department of Education
Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks during a news conference at the White House on November 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Students, parents and educators across the country have long relied on the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, also known as OCR, to enforce anti-discrimination laws, particularly against students with disabilities. In particular, OCR helps provide equal educational opportunity to families who do not have the financial means to file expensive lawsuits against school districts or universities.
Yet as the Trump administration moves to dismantle the Department of Education — despite lacking the necessary congressional support — the agency’s civil rights office has shrunk to a fraction of its former size. Hundreds of employees were laid off. Its main regional units in places like Philadelphia and Boston have largely shut down.
Court documents show that of the approximately 450 people still listed as employees by OCR, only about 60 have not received layoff notices in the past year. Nearly 250 employees were initially laid off in March, and another 137 were laid off during the government shutdown in October (their layoffs were later reversed as part of a deal to end the funding crisis).
Read more: The Department of Education laid off about 20% of its staff during the shutdown
Education Minister Linda McMahon’s decision to tap into her own laid-off workforce is further evidence that her agency is facing greater difficulties in meeting its statutory responsibilities than she has publicly let on.
Many families waiting for civil rights complaints to be resolved have been left in limbo since the department was cut in half earlier this year. Colleges also reported significant problems with the federal financial aid system.
In November, McMahon announced new plans to shift many of the department’s key responsibilities to other agencies, raising concerns about further disruption to important programs. She believes the change will ultimately help streamline the federal government’s limited role in the education system.
Zachary Schermele is USA TODAY’s congressional reporter. You can contact him via email: zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky @zachschermele.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Education Department asks hundreds of laid-off employees to work