Nearly 4,000 NASA employees have tendered their resignations

NASA could lose up to 20 percent of its workforce after the second wave of delayed layoffs ends. A total of about 3,000 workers have filed to leave the agency, Bloomberg reported, citing official data.

A total of about 3,000 employees have filed to leave the agency, Bloomberg reported, citing official data.

The deferred separation program was offered to NASA employees in January by the Trump administration. The initiative called for voluntary resignations with pay and social security benefits for a limited period of time. The first wave took place at the beginning of the year – then the decision to leave the agency took 870 people. The second phase began in June and ended on July 25.

The total number of applications approached 4,000

After the second wave, the total number of layoff requests has reached nearly 4,000, according to Bloomberg. That represents about 20 percent of NASA’s total workforce. Earlier in July, Politico reported that more than 2,000 members of the senior management staff had also agreed to leave.

Politico reported that more than 2,000 senior managers had also agreed to leave.

The mass exodus coincided with discussions of major cuts to the agency’s budget. According to preliminary reports, they could hurt NASA’s science programs and result in the loss of thousands of jobs.

Employees urged to reject budget cuts

On July 21, a group of current and former NASA employees sent a letter to the agency’s acting head, Sean Duffy, asking him to block proposed cuts. The document says the new measures “pose a security risk, undermine NASA’s mission, weaken national defense, and could lead to inefficient spending of public funds.”

The Most 4,000 NASA employees have tendered their resignations was first published on ITZine.ru.