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

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

March 13 is due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal difficulty

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

March 11 (Reuters) – Multiple federal government firms are turning to early retirement programs to reduce headcount as they scramble to satisfy President Donald Trump’s Thursday deadline for them to submit plans 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 among the companies which have actually used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their tasks.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resource experts at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

All U.S. federal government companies have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump’s extraordinary project to revamp the federal government. Among his top advisers, the Elon Musk, is leading that effort with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, 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 provided benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

“If your method is to get as lots of people out the door willingly, that reduces the danger of court orders and opposition to you in the long run,” stated Don Moynihan, a public law professor at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of firms have telegraphed by means of media leaks how numerous employees they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. They include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no agency has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government’s human resources department that is collecting the data, an individual familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to respond.

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

“I encourage each of you to consider your options as we move forward,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an email seen by Reuters. “The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on efficiency and high-value results.”

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all its 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

“There will be no extensions,” specifies 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 workers accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, 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 government employees, stated the Trump administration was utilizing “a legitimate program to additional damage the capabilities of agencies to complete their mission.”

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)