IRS cuts more jobs as union sues over Trump executive order

The Internal Revenue Service has reportedly axed more jobs at the height of tax season, placing 50 senior IT leaders on administrative leave, on top of the thousands of jobs already cut, as the union representing Treasury Department employees filed suit over President Donald Trump’s executive order stripping the union of collective bargaining rights.

The IRS sent an email Friday evening to employees such as associate and deputy associate chief information officers, according to the Federal News Network, saying they weren’t required to report to the office and they would lose access to their offices and computers, including email. However, they would continue to receive their full salary and benefits.

“This paid administrative leave status will remain in effect until further notice,” the email said. “You will continue to receive your full salary and benefits during the entirety of this administrative leave period. You are directed not to perform any work-related tasks during this administrative leave period.”

The Trump administration has responded to a court’s order requiring it to reinstate approximately 24,000 workers across 18 federal agencies by placing most of them on paid administrative leave instead. The IRS has so far cut about 7,320 workers this way, according to The New York Times, or about 13% of its workforce, while up to 5,000 employees have accepted voluntary buyouts. Estimates of the planned cuts vary from 20% up to 50% of the IRS workforce. The IRS is also facing another budget cut of $20.2 billion under the recent deal to avert a government shutdown.

Federal workers are also facing the threat of a loss of their collective bargaining rights after Trump signed an executive order Thursday removing the requirements from employees at agencies including the Treasury Department that he deemed to have national security missions. On Monday, the National Treasury Employees Union filed a lawsuit to stop the move.

“The law plainly gives federal employees the right to bargain collectively and the shocking executive order abolishing that right for most of them, under the guise of national security, is an attempt to silence the voices of our nation’s public servants,” said NTEU national president Doreen Greenwald in a statement. “It is also a continuation of the administration’s efforts to deny the American people the vital services that these talented civil servants provide by making it easier to fire them without any pushback from their union advocates.”  

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, says the order eliminating union rights for two-thirds of the entire federal workforce is in direct conflict with the law that Congress passed specifically to facilitate and strengthen collective bargaining in the federal sector.