US Agencies Offer Staff new Buyouts Ahead Of Trump’s Layoff Deadline
Agencies utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement program to cut federal workers
March 13 is deadline to submit plans for large-scale layoffs
Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000
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Buyout program less susceptible to legal obstacle
By Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne
March 11 (Reuters) – Multiple government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump’s Thursday due date for them to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.
The Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda, are among the agencies which have offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their jobs.
The buyout offers, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday deadline, human resource specialists at a number of federal companies informed Reuters.
The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unethical loan providers.
All U.S. federal government companies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump’s unmatched campaign to overhaul the federal government. One of his top advisors, the tech billionaire Elon Musk, is leading that effort with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.
Personnel and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It also requires employees who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government job within five years.
“If your technique is to get as numerous individuals out the door voluntarily, that lowers the risk of court orders and opposition to you in the long run,” said Don Moynihan, a public policy teacher at the University of Michigan.
OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS
Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed via media leakages how many workers they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. They include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.
Despite the looming due date, no company has yet sent its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government’s human resources department that is collating the data, a person knowledgeable about the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.
OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to respond.
At the General Services Administration, workers were informed on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a plan to use an early retirement program to all eligible employees.
“I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we move forward,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an email seen by Reuters. “The new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on performance and high-value outcomes.”
On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all its 19,000 staff members announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.
“There will be no extensions,” specifies the email, examined by Reuters and signed by Tania Tse, director of the FDA’s Office of Human Capital Management.
Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior VSIP deal by including that workers accepting it would get 2 months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters.
Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union which represents 110,000 federal government workers, said the Trump administration was using “a legitimate program to more damage the abilities of companies to finish their objective.”
OPM to react to Lenkart’s comments. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis)
