VA Secretary Doug Collins said in March that VA’s goal was to cut 15% of its workforce, which would mean eliminating about 72,000 total positions. But the VA announced Monday that it’s no longer considering department-wide layoffs through a reduction-in-force.

Already, about 17,000 VA jobs have been vacated since Jan. 1 through a combination of deferred resignations, retirements, normal attrition and department hiring freezes, officials said. Another 12,000 posts are expected to be cleared out over the next two and a half months.

Following significant pushback, VA is reversing course on its plan for widespread RIFs while still promising some staffing reductions.