Trump Administration Calls Back Education Staff Amid Discrimination Complaint Backlog

Sat Dec 06 2025 04:09:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Dozens of Education Department employees, previously on the chopping block, are being recalled to address the growing number of discrimination complaints from students and families. Despite ongoing legal battles over layoffs, officials emphasize the need to clear the backlog.

The Trump administration has decided to bring back dozens of staff members from the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights who were previously on administrative leave. This decision comes in response to a significant backlog of more than 25,000 discrimination complaints, which has grown since the administration's previous layoffs. While the recalling of staff aims to address these issues, the administration still intends to lay off employees to reduce departmental size amid ongoing legal disputes regarding the layoffs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is bringing back dozens of Education Department staffers who were slated to be laid off, saying their help is needed to tackle a mounting backlog of discrimination complaints from students and families.

The staffers had been on administrative leave while the department faced lawsuits challenging layoffs in the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigates possible discrimination in the nation’s schools and colleges. But in a Friday letter, department officials ordered the workers back to duty starting Dec. 15 to help clear civil rights cases.

A department spokesperson confirmed the move, saying the government still hoped to lay off the staffers to shrink the department’s size.

“The Department will continue to appeal the persistent and unceasing litigation disputes concerning the Reductions in Force, but in the meantime, it will utilize all employees currently being compensated by American taxpayers,” Julie Hartman said in a statement.

In the letter to employees, officials stated the department needs “all OCR staff to prioritize OCR’s existing complaint caseload.” The office handles everything from complaints about possible violations of disability rights to racial discrimination.

More than 200 workers from the Office for Civil Rights were targeted in mass layoffs, but the firings have been tied up in legal battles since March. An appeals court cleared the way for the cuts in September, but they’re again on hold because of a separate lawsuit. In all, the Education Department workforce has shrunk from 4,100 when President Donald Trump took office to roughly half that size now, as the president vows to wind down the agency.

The department did not say how many workers are returning to duty. Some who had been on administrative leave for months have since left.

The Office for Civil Rights had a backlog of about 20,000 discrimination cases when Trump took office in January. Since then, with a significantly reduced workforce, the backlog has swollen to more than 25,000 according to AP reporting using department data.

Trump officials have defended the layoffs despite complaints piling up, stating the office wasn’t operating efficiently, even when fully staffed.

Some former staffers claim there’s no way the office can address the current backlog under the reduced staffing levels left after the layoffs. Families who have filed discrimination complaints against their schools have noted the department’s staffing shortages, with some waiting months for responses.