No Allocation Of Funds, NASA's JPL Facility LAYs 530 Employees

NASA's JPL lays off hundreds of employees (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a research facility owned by the United States Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), announced that it would reduce the number of employees.

On Tuesday, February 6, JPL said that they were forced to terminate employment (PHK) due to NASA's lower budget allocation and no allocation for the 2024 fiscal year (FY24) from Congress.

Actually, the FY24 allocation from Congress has not yet reached its final decision. However, JPL Director Laurie Leshin said that the condition of the research center was under pressure. Therefore, they have to cut more employees.

"We are now in a position where we have to take significant further action to reduce our spending, which will result in layoffs on JPL employees and the release of more contractors," Leshin said in an official statement.

This labor reduction will have an impact on 530 employees in several divisions or about 8 percent of the total number of employees. The contractor's workforce, which has been laid off, will be reduced again by 40 workers.

Before announcing the news of layoffs, JPL had sought to protect their employees by freezing recruitment, removing the Mars Sample Return Mission (MSR) contract, and cutting the budget burden across the lab.

"Unfortunately, this action alone is not enough for us to get through the rest of this fiscal year. So, with no allocation of funds, we now have to move forward to protect ourselves from even greater cuts," explained Leshin.

After the news of the layoffs, Leanin said that most employees had to work from home (WFH) on Wednesday, February 7. This needs to be done so that all employees can work comfortably on stressful days.

Furthermore, JPL leaders at the division level and the directorate will hold a meeting regarding mandatory virtual workforce updates. During the meeting, insights related to the actions and impacts of layoffs will be discussed.

When the meeting is over, all employees invited to a virtual workforce update meeting will get an email. In the email, employees will find out whether they are affected by layoffs or not.

All employees affected by layoffs will receive a basic salary and allowances for two months even though they are no longer working. Some employees will also receive Caltech severance pay if they meet the requirements.