Lawrence Berkeley Layoffs

From the Daily Cal: ...In a video sent internally to Berkeley Lab staff July 10, Lab Director Michael Witherell addressed the impacts of the fiscal year 2026 budget on lab employment, informing staff that there would be layoffs in both research and operations. The lab has approximately 3,800 full-time employees... This follows President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026, which reduced the Department of Energy budget by $3.5 billion, with a 74% reduction in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Trump’s proposed budget called several cut DOE programs part of a “Green New Scam.”

The lab’s six research areas and seven operations divisions will proceed with layoffs on “two separate timelines,” Witherell said in the internal video. He expressed that the layoff process would begin immediately in operations and lab directorate teams, leading to staffing reductions by Oct. 1... On the lab’s research side, projects are supported by “direct funding,” Witherell said in the video. Layoffs will be determined depending on which projects receive renewed funding in the fiscal year 2026 budget...

One operations staff member said that a two-week period was given to operation divisions’ employees to voluntarily resign, with no additional incentives and the standard severance package. The source requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. The research division also may experience clawbacks in funds, a retraction of funds that have already been distributed, according to several internal lab communications...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/berkeley-lab-to-begin-layoffs-due-to-federal-funding-cuts/article_065538d6-ac59-44d7-b102-9982c3445382.html.