GSA asks hundreds of ex-employees to return after DOGE-driven layoffs
Internal memo shows the General Services Administration offered reinstatement to roughly 400 workers who were terminated during Elon Musk's DOGE program, with voluntary returns set to begin early October.
Hundreds of government employees purged under Elon Musk's DOGE program are being asked to return to work, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press. The General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service identified about 400 employees who received reduction-in-force notices and were later invited to consider reinstatement. Those who accept the offer must report back to duty by Oct. 6, the memo says, and participation is voluntary. The development marks a rare reversal of a broad federal purge that led to staffing gaps in key agencies and drew widespread attention to the DOGE initiative.
The reinstatement effort comes as the agency grapples with the staffing shortfall created by months of unsettled departures and buyouts. Many of the workers who would be brought back had already received pay while not working due to court challenges and internal reviews that delayed terminations. The move follows a leadership review that concluded the GSA had become “broken and understaffed” in parts of its operations, according to Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official who spoke with the AP. Becker said the DOGE program went too far, too quickly, leaving the agency in “triage mode” as it struggled to deliver core functions for customer agencies and taxpayers.
A GSA spokesperson told the Daily Mail that most separations were voluntary and that leadership has been reviewing workforce actions to balance service to federal agencies with prudent positions for employees. The spokesman emphasized that the scope of the changes was significant but stressed that the agency is adjusting staffing in the best interests of its customers and the public.
Since March, thousands of GSA employees have left the agency after participating in deferred resignation offers or other early-retirement programs tied to DOGE or to buyouts. At the start of the year, GSA counted roughly 12,000 employees across all divisions. The decision to offer former staff the chance to return reflects a broader pattern in which other federal agencies—such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Labor Department, and the National Park Service—have reinstated former employees who opted for deferred resignations or who were affected by DOGE-driven reductions.
The reinstatement wave has occurred amid ongoing political and logistical debates about the federal workforce and the speed at which agencies should scale back or rebuild their staffing. Protests and public discourse followed DOGE-era announcements in various cities, underscoring concerns about service levels, backlogs, and the capacity of federal agencies to fulfill core obligations. The latest steps to rehire some former workers illustrate how agencies can recalibrate labor force decisions in response to real-time operational pressures, court rulings, and evolving leadership perspectives.