Education Department workers targeted in layoffs are returning to tackle civil rights backlog

By COLLIN BINKLEY WASHINGTON AP The Trump administration is bringing back dozens of Coaching 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 Related Articles What to know about the Justice Department s Jeffrey Epstein files What to know as lawmakers disclose vivid new details of US boat strikes CDC votes to roll back newborn Hep B vax recommendation Healey says Massachusetts won t comply Federal judge appears skeptical of Trump s ongoing command of California National Guard troops FACT FOCUS Trump disclosed weaker gas mileage rules will mean cheaper cars Experts say don t bet on it The staffers had been on administrative leave while the department faced lawsuits challenging layoffs in the agency s Office for Civil Rights which investigates realizable discrimination in the nation s schools and colleges But in a Friday letter department bureaucrats ordered the workers back to duty starting Dec to help clear civil rights cases A department spokesperson established the move saying the administration still hoped to lay off the staffers to shrink the size of the department 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 at this moment being compensated by American taxpayers Julie Hartman revealed in a declaration In the letter to employees obtained by The Associated Press bureaucrats noted the department demands all OCR staff to prioritize OCR s existing complaint caseload The office handles everything from complaints about doable violations of disability rights to racial discrimination More than workers from the Office for Civil Rights were targeted in mass layoffs at the department 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 Teaching Department workforce has shrunk from 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 a multitude of workers are returning to duty Several who have been on administrative leave for months have since left The Office for Civil Rights had a backlog of about discrimination cases when Trump took office in January Since then with a significantly reduced workforce the backlog has grown to more than AP reporting has shown using department facts Trump officers have defended the layoffs even as complaints pile up saying the office wasn t operating efficiently even at full staff The Office for Civil Rights enforces various of the nation s laws about civil rights in training including those barring discrimination based on disability sex race and religion It investigates complaints from students across the country and has the power to cut funding to schools and colleges that violate the law though majority cases are resolved in voluntary agreements Selected former staffers have stated there s no way the office can address the current backlog under the staffing levels left after the layoffs Families who have filed discrimination complaints against their schools say they have noticed the department s staffing shortages with chosen waiting months and hearing nothing The Associated Press tuition coverage receives financial sponsorship from multiple private foundations AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP org