November 20, 2025
The SBA sent reduction-in-force notices to 77 employees on Sept. 29, just one day before the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history.
People are criticizing the Small Business Administration (SBA) for offering recently laid-off workers their jobs back, only to rescind its offer the next day.
“Yeah, that affected our office. It was a Christmas miracle for 24 hours until it turned into a nightmare. Morale hit a new low,” one person commented on Reddit.
According to the Federal News Network (FNN), the SBA sent reduction-in-force notices to 77 employees on Sept. 29, just one day before the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history. This week, a top HR official told dozens of staff that they were back to work.
“This letter is to formally rescind the reduction in force (RIF) notice dated 9/29/25,” SBA’s Chief Human Capital Officer John Serpa told employees in a Nov. 18 notice. “You are being reinstated to your position of record with the Small Business Administration (SBA).”
Then, a day later, Serpa told employees that the layoffs would remain in effect.
“Can you even imagine. The mental mind f*ck this puts people in? My gawd,” another Reddit user commented.
What Led To SBA Confusion For Laid-off Workers
The confusion reportedly stems from competing interpretations of the language in the shutdown-ending spending deal that Congress passed to reopen the government. A SBA spokesperson told FNN that the agency “determined the most recent continuing resolution signed into law does not apply to any RIFs executed” by the agency.
“Therefore, the RIF in question, affecting 77 positions, remains,” the spokesperson said.
The spending bill Congress passed on Nov. 12 to end the government shutdown states, “any reduction in force proposed, noticed, initiated, executed, and implemented, or otherwise taken by an executive agency between Oct. 1, 2025, and the date of enactment, shall have no force or effect.”
The layoffs at SBA were not included in a federal judge’s preliminary injunction that blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with any layoffs during the shutdown. The judge’s ruling also does not include RIF notices issued before the shutdown, including those sent to SBA employees.
“The record may reflect that many employees of the Small Business Administration have been contacting the court. But it appears that the RIFs that they’re subject to went out on September 29 or 30, prior to the government shutdown,” U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston said. “They would not be covered by this preliminary injunction.”
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