A template for essential federal employees, which the government refers to as “expected” employees, used similar language. Federal employees within the Departments of Justice and Education told ABC News they also received messages with similar language. However, multiple furloughed employees at the Department of Education report their out-of-office replies were automatically reset to mimic the language above – without their permission. “They changed our out-of-office message… [They] did it after everyone left,” one department of education staffer told ABC News. Meanwhile, scores of federal employees are expected to be fired as a result of the shutdown by the end of the week, administration officials said.