The federal agency responsible for maintaining governmental and historical records initiated employee layoffs starting Monday as leadership stated this decision would strategically redirect resources while maintaining the agency's primary mission.
The National Archives and Records Administration announced that it would release approximately 3% of its workforce through reductions in force which means about 100 employees would be let go with initial notices distributed on Monday followed by additional notices on June 30. NARA reduced the effects of RIFs through early voluntary separation programs and implemented changes that would improve public access to its records and artifacts.
NARA’s chief of management and administration Valorie Findlater informed staff through a Government Executive obtained note the agency’s future state decisions were implemented with careful strategic planning. Our organization remains dedicated to assisting our employees during NARA's ongoing transformations while we work to establish a more effective NARA for the future.
Findlater explained that her agency implemented these measures because President Trump mandated all agencies to reorganize their structures. The order faces implementation delays at nearly two-dozen agencies because a federal judge issued a blockage order but NARA remains exempt. While awaiting the Supreme Court's decision, numerous agencies have prepared to execute layoffs if the justices decide in favor of the administration.
NARA employees who understand the layoffs said that RIFs eliminated the Office of Innovation together with the division that supports field offices and presidential libraries in the first round of cuts. The employee reported that the 13 libraries which NARA supervises currently face substantial staff reductions during the second phase of layoffs.
NARA's termination of probationary staff caused a temporary closure of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston during February.The agency will experience greater staffing reductions than the RIFs alone indicate because numerous workers have already accepted buyouts or early retirement packages.
Employees predicted that facilities would face staffing shortages, museum programming would shrink and veterans records retrieval would develop backlogs when probationary staff members were terminated. Earlier this year Trump dismissed Colleen Shogan who served as the latest U.S. Archivist. Marco Rubio became acting archivist through Trump's appointment but James Byron of the Richard Nixon Foundation runs the agency operations on a daily basis.
The State Department Secretary Marco Rubio tried to carry out RIFs during the weekend but federal court stopped his action at the last minute.