US Agencies Offer Staff Brand-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 strategies for large-scale layoffs

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

*

Buyout program less vulnerable to legal difficulty

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

March 11 (Reuters) — Multiple federal government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to reduce headcount as they rush to satisfy President Donald Trump’s Thursday deadline 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 amongst the companies which have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their tasks.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resource professionals at a number of federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits 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 help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus dishonest lending institutions.

All U.S. government firms have actually been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump’s unprecedented project to revamp the government. Among 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 government’s home portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

«If your strategy is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that decreases the danger of court orders and opposition to you in the long run,» said Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed via media leaks the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They include 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 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no firm has yet sent its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government’s personnels department that is collecting the data, a person familiar with the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

OPM itself has provided 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 react.

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

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

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all its 19,000 a Friday, March 14, due date to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

«There will be no extensions,» mentions 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 previous VSIP offer by adding that employees accepting it would get 2 months of full 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, said the Trump administration was utilizing «a genuine program to additional damage the capabilities of agencies to finish their mission.»

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