On Friday, December 5, 2025, employees at the U.S. Department of Education received an unexpected message: many of those who had been fired back in March were being called back to work. This abrupt reversal came after months of legal wrangling, administrative confusion, and a ballooning backlog of civil rights complaints—an issue that’s left families, students, and the nation’s schools in a state of uncertainty.
These federal workers, including a significant number of attorneys, serve in the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Their primary responsibility? Investigate family complaints of discrimination in the nation’s schools. It’s a job that, under normal circumstances, is both demanding and essential. But 2025 has been anything but normal for the OCR.
Back in March, the Trump administration initiated a reduction-in-force that terminated 299 OCR employees—about half of the office’s staff. According to NPR and Beritaja, this move was meant to downsize the department, but it quickly became entangled in legal disputes. The courts intervened, temporarily blocking the Education Department from completing the terminations. Instead of allowing these workers to return to their duties, the department placed them on paid administrative leave, leaving them in a kind of professional limbo. As court records reveal, 52 employees have since decided to leave the department entirely.
Fast-forward to December: an unknown number of the remaining 247 staffers received an email from the department on Friday. The message, shared with both NPR and Beritaja by recipients, stated that, despite the administration’s ongoing legal efforts to downsize, "utilizing all OCR employees, including those currently on administrative leave, will bolster and refocus efforts on enforcement activities in a way that serves and benefits parents, students, and families." Staff were directed to report to their regional offices on Monday, December 15, 2025.
Julie Hartman, the department’s press secretary for legal affairs, confirmed the move in a statement to Beritaja: "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." Hartman added that the recall is temporary, but did not clarify how many staffers were being brought back, or why the decision was made now after so many months of paid leave.
The lack of clear communication has left many observers baffled. Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252—a union representing many Education Department employees—was unsparing in her criticism. As she told Beritaja, "By blocking OCR staff from doing their jobs, Department leadership allowed a massive backlog of civil rights complaints to grow, and now expects these same employees to clean up a crisis entirely of the Department's own making. Students, families, and schools have paid the price for this chaos."
The numbers behind the backlog are staggering. According to a department source who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity, the OCR now faces about 25,000 pending complaints, including roughly 7,000 open investigations. The department itself did not respond to requests for the current size of the backlog, but the impact is clear. Gittleman estimated that the administration’s decision to keep OCR attorneys on paid leave "has already wasted more than $40 million in taxpayer funds—rather than letting them do their jobs." Both NPR and Beritaja note that this figure could not be independently verified, but the scale of the disruption is undeniable.
This isn’t the first time the department’s approach to staffing has raised eyebrows. In October 2025, the administration attempted to fire another 137 OCR staffers. However, those employees were reinstated as part of a deal to end a government shutdown. All told, just 62 OCR employees—about 10% of the office’s January 2025 headcount—have not received a termination notice at some point this year.
The consequences of these staffing cuts have been felt most acutely by families seeking justice for discrimination in schools. Two days before the recall email went out, NPR reported on the human cost of the OCR’s paralysis. Maggie Heilman, a parent, filed a complaint with OCR in 2024, alleging that her daughter, who has Down syndrome, was denied her right to a free, appropriate public education. The OCR began investigating in October 2024, but the investigation was disrupted repeatedly by the staff cuts. Heilman’s case remains one of the roughly 7,000 open investigations. Reflecting on the administration’s push to cut attorneys who defend students’ civil rights, Heilman said, "it’s telling families with children like [my daughter] that their hurt doesn’t matter."
The data on OCR’s effectiveness paints a stark picture. Since Trump took office, public records show that the OCR has reached resolution agreements in just 73 cases involving alleged disability discrimination. That’s a dramatic drop compared to 390 cases resolved in 2024, and more than 1,000 such cases in 2017, the year Trump began his first term. The decline is not just a matter of statistics—it represents thousands of families waiting for answers and accountability.
For many, the department’s decision to recall staff now, after months of paid leave and mounting complaints, raises more questions than answers. Why wait so long to bring employees back? Why keep them on the payroll without allowing them to work? The department has yet to provide a clear rationale. What’s certain is that the backlog will not be resolved overnight. The recalled staff face a daunting task: sifting through tens of thousands of complaints, many of which have languished for months.
The broader implications for civil rights enforcement in education are troubling. The Office for Civil Rights plays a crucial role in ensuring that America’s schools are free from discrimination—whether based on disability, race, gender, or other protected categories. When the system grinds to a halt, it’s not just paperwork that piles up; it’s real lives put on hold, and justice delayed for those who need it most.
As the legal battle over the reductions in force continues, and as the department attempts to dig itself out from under the backlog, the spotlight remains firmly on the leadership’s decisions. Unions, advocacy groups, and families alike are watching closely, hoping that the return of OCR staff will mark the beginning of a renewed commitment to civil rights enforcement in America’s schools.
For now, the recalled employees are preparing to return to their offices, uncertain of what awaits them. The challenge ahead is immense, but so is the need. Whether the department can restore trust, efficiency, and justice in its civil rights investigations remains to be seen.