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

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

March 13 is deadline to submit strategies for massive layoffs

Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000

*

Buyout program less vulnerable to legal obstacle

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

March 11 (Reuters) – Multiple government companies are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they rush to meet President Donald Trump’s Thursday due date for them to submit strategies 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 Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the firms which have actually provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their jobs.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resource experts at several federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad claims after it fired countless 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 unethical loan providers.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered perks of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within five years.

“If your method is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that reduces the threat 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 telegraphed via media leaks the number of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no agency has yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government’s human resources department that is collecting the information, an individual 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 individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to respond.

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

“I encourage each of you to consider your alternatives as we progress,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an e-mail seen by Reuters. “The new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on efficiency and high-value outcomes.”

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all its 19,000 staff members announcing a Friday, March 14, due date to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

“There will be no extensions,” states the email, reviewed by Reuters and signed by Tania Tse, director of the FDA’s Office of Human Capital Management.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous VSIP offer by adding that workers accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, 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 federal government workers, stated the Trump administration was using “a genuine program to further damage the abilities of firms to complete their objective.”

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