Updated October 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM PDT

More than a week into the government shutdown, layoffs of federal workers have begun, following through on administration threats to slash the size of government during the shutdown.

In a court filing late Friday, lawyers for the government wrote that an estimated 4,200 employees across at least seven agencies began receiving reduction in force, or RIF, notices on Oct. 10.

The declaration , from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) senior advisor Stephen Billy, came in response to an order from the federal judge assigned to a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's shutdown layoffs.

Word that layoffs were underway first came from OMB Director Russell Vought in a social media post on X that said, "The RIFs have begun."

While the admin

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