By Mary O’KEEFE

On Wednesday the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA Center that is administered by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), reduced its workforce by about 325 employees, about 5% of its total staff, through layoffs following an assessment of its funding, according to Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28).

This is the second major layoff for the Lab since February when it cut 530 employees in addition to 40 contractors. Wednesday was another gut-punch to the scientific community.

Rep. Judy Chu, whose district includes JPL and Caltech, on Wednesday released the following statement:

“I’m once again disappointed with hundreds of JPL layoffs announced today, coming on the heels of hundreds of others earlier this year, and my thoughts are with the dedicated, experienced workers who will be impacted. I have been a steadfast champion of JPL as a national asset, which has helped us accomplish some of the greatest feats in space and science for decades. Every layoff devastates the uniquely talented workers and their loved ones and threatens future scientific discoveries. NASA science missions continue to unlock some of the greatest questions humankind has, inspire the world and demonstrate American leadership in technology. We must work to accomplish the highest priorities of the Decadal Surveys, and Congress must unite to support our national assets, people and missions that enable these discoveries. It is my sincerest hope that the layoffs will cease with stable funding moving forward, and I’m helping lead the fight with my colleagues in Congress to ensure we provide the necessary funding in upcoming spending bills to fully support our vital missions and promote the kinds of scientific discovery JPL has been on the frontlines of.”

A memo was sent on Wednesday to JPL employees from JPL Director Laurie Leshin:

“This is a message I had hoped not to have to write,” she wrote. “Despite this being incredibly difficult for our community, this number is lower than projected a few months ago thanks in part to the hard work of so many people across JPL. The workforce assessment conducted as part of this process has been both extensive and thorough and, although we can never have perfect insight into the future, I sincerely believe that after this action we will be at a more stable workforce level moving forward.”

All employees were required to work from home on Wednesday. They were to standby their computers to find out their fate.

“Our approach is to prioritize notifying everyone via email as quickly as possible whether their role is being affected by the layoff or not. Then we can rapidly shift to providing personalized support to our laid-off colleagues who are part of the workforce reduction, including offering dedicated time to discuss their benefits and several other forms of assistance,” Leshin wrote. “To reiterate to you all, I believe this is the last cross-Lab workforce action we will need to take in the foreseeable future. After this action, we will be at about 5,500 JPL regular employees. I believe this is a stable, supportable staffing level moving forward. While we can never be 100% certain of the future budget, we will be well positioned for the work ahead. This may not help much in this difficult moment, but I do want to be crystal clear with my thoughts and perspective. If we hold strong together, we will come through this, just as we have done during other turbulent times in JPL’s nearly 90-year history.”