US Agencies Offer Staff Brand-new Buyouts Ahead Of Trump’s Layoff Deadline

Agencies using lump-sum payments, early retirement program to cut federal employees

March 13 is deadline to send plans for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of up to $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal challenge

By Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne

March 11 (Reuters) – Multiple federal government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to lower headcount as they rush to fulfill President Donald Trump’s Thursday deadline for them to send prepare for a 2nd 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 actually used 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 embraced as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resource professionals at a number of federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against deceitful lenders.

All U.S. government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump’s extraordinary campaign to overhaul the federal government. One of his top consultants, the tech billionaire Elon Musk, is leading that effort with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently offered bonus offers 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 susceptible to legal obstacles. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

“If your strategy is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that decreases 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 by means of media leaks the number of employees they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no company has actually yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government’s human resources department that is looking at the information, a person knowledgeable about the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM workers, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to react.

At the General Services Administration, staff members were notified on Monday that OPM had greenlit a plan to offer an early retirement program to all qualified workers.

“I encourage each of you to consider your choices as we move on,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an email seen by Reuters. “The new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on effectiveness 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, due date to decide into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

“There will be no extensions,” states the e-mail, evaluated 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 employees accepting it would get 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters.

Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union which represents 110,000 government employees, stated the Trump administration was using “a genuine program to further damage the capabilities of agencies to complete their objective.”

OPM decreased to react to Lenkart’s comments. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis)