A deal to end the longest government shutdown, expected to pass the House later today and head to President Donald Trump’s desk, rescinds layoff notices sent to thousands of federal employees in October.

The spending plan doesn’t bring back jobs for former federal employees who received reduction-in-force (RIF) notices earlier this year and who have officially separated from the government. But it does mean their severance payments, which have been on hold since the start of the shutdown, will resume.

Former federal employees say the nearly month-and-a-half freeze on severance payments has been a less visible part of the shutdown’s financial impact, and added to the emotional toll felt by those who lost their jobs under the Trump administration.

The severance payment freeze has had a major impact on former employees at the Department of Health and Human Services.

lay off nearly 950 additional employees, but those RIF notices are expected to be rescinded.

Thomas Nagy, Jr, HHS chief human capital officer and deputy assistant secretary for human resources, told former employees in an email obtained by Federal News Network that, “due to the current lapse in appropriations, you will not be receiving any further severance payments until funding is restored.”

Nagy told laid-off workers that they may see a “temporary debt” on their leave and earnings statement, because severance payments have been stopped, retroactive to the beginning of the lapse in appropriations.

He added that the department’s payroll provider, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, “will initiate no collections actions, and that no funds will be withdrawn from your bank account,” and that HHS will resume payments “as soon as it is legally and operationally possible to do so.”

‘There is nobody we can ask’ 

A laid-off HHS employee’s latest leave and earnings statement, shared with Federal News Network, does not include her severance payment. Instead, it shows that she owes the agency nearly $4,000.

The employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation, said no funds had been withdrawn from her account, but said the notice raised more questions than it answered.

“I have no idea if this means this is actually going to be collected from me at some point, or if this is just an error,” she said.

Aside from boilerplate emails, the former HHS employee said she received no further communication from the department. She said she’s not sure who else to contact at HHS, because her entire supervisory chain also received RIF notices, or were reassigned to different agencies within HHS.

“I don’t actually know anybody who I can ask anymore,” the former employee said, “There is nobody we can ask. That’s really upsetting.”

Federal News Network has heard from several other former HHS employees who saw negative amounts on their latest leave and earnings statements. None received any notice asking them to repay any amount.

HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told Federal News Network in a statement that “severance payments may only continue for employees in organizations exempt from furlough based on their funding source.”

To comply with the Anti-Deficiency Act, agencies have suspended severance payments for the duration of the shutdown. It’s not immediately clear how soon those severance payments will resume, once the shutdown ends.

The Office of Personnel Management, in updated guidance sent ahead of the shutdown, told agencies that “no funds may be authorized for severance payments for days during the lapse until an appropriation is enacted.”

A Nov. 5 memo from the HHS Office of Human Capital Management, sent to Food and Drug Administration managers and supervisors, states that HHS “has suspended all severance payments to former employees due to the current lapse in appropriations.”

The memo, obtained by Federal News Network, states that the suspension of severance payments started for the pay period ending Nov. 1, and “affects all HHS organizations.”

“Due to funding constraints across multiple HHS organizations, HHS Office of Human Resources directed a department-wide suspension of all severance payments through the end of the appropriations lapse,” the memo states. “Former employees will receive retroactive severance payments once the appropriations lapse ends.”

The memo directed human resources staff at other HHS components to notify all former employees about the hold on severance payments by Nov. 7.

More than 1.4 million federal employees missed two full paychecks, and received a partial paycheck during the 43-day government shutdown. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown will cost the federal government at least $7 billion, and up to $14 billion.

Shutdown RIFs will be rescinded

More than 4,000 federal employees across the government received RIF notices in mid-October, following guidance from the White House that encouraged agencies to move forward with layoffs in the event of a funding lapse. But those RIF notices will be reversed, as part of the deal to end the government shutdown.

The bill states that between the date of enactment and Jan. 30, no federal funds may be used “to initiate, carry out, implement, or otherwise notice a reduction in force to reduce the number of employees within any department, agency, or office of the federal government.”

The Senate passed the shutdown-ending spending plan on Monday, and the House is expected to pass the bill on Wednesday. The bill includes a continuing resolution that will keep many agencies funded at current spending levels until Jan. 30, 2026.

Most, preliminary injunction granted by a district court judge last month. Federal unions sued the Trump administration over the layoffs, alleging that they violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Unlike most lawsuits, the Trump administration did not appeal the district court’s ruling.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that the administration “is very hopeful that this shutdown is going to come to an end.”

“President Trump looks forward to finally ending this devastating Democrat shutdown with his signature, and we hope that signing will take place later tonight,” Leavitt said.

Even with the rollback of the shutdown layoffs, Leavitt said the Trump administration has still taken major steps to “reduce the size of our federal bureaucracy.”

The Partnership for Public Service estimates that more than 211,000 employees have left the federal workforce this year, either through layoffs or voluntary incentives

“We’ve done a lot of great work on that front, and we will continue to. But obviously, the President’s main priority was to reopen the federal government and get people back to work, and that’s what this deal accomplishes,” Leavitt said.

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