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

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

March 13 is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal obstacle

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

March 11 (Reuters) – Multiple federal government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease headcount as they scramble to satisfy President Donald Trump’s Thursday due date for them to submit plans 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 Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the firms which have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who concur to leave their jobs.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resource specialists at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against dishonest loan providers.

All U.S. government companies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump’s unmatched project to overhaul the government. Among his leading advisers, the tech billionaire Elon Musk, is leading that effort with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also requires employees who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

“If your technique is to get as numerous 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 law professor at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed via media leaks the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming 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 agency has yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government’s personnels department that is looking at the data, an individual familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

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

“I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we move on,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an e-mail seen by Reuters. “The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on effectiveness and high-value results.”

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

“There will be no extensions,” states the e-mail, examined by 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 two months of complete pay in addition to the reward, 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 workers, said the Trump administration was utilizing “a genuine program to more damage the abilities of firms to finish their mission.”

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