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 send prepare for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of up to $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 agencies are turning to early retirement programs to reduce headcount as they scramble to satisfy President Donald Trump’s Thursday due date for them to send 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 Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the firms which have actually used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who 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 help meet the Thursday due date, human resource experts at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against deceitful lending institutions.

All U.S. government agencies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump’s unmatched project to overhaul the government. Among his leading consultants, 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 property portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

“If your strategy is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that minimizes the danger 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 number of agencies have telegraphed through media leakages the number of staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd 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 preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming due date, no agency has yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government’s human resources department that is collecting the data, an individual knowledgeable about the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

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

“I encourage each of you to consider your choices as we move forward,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an email seen by Reuters. “The 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 an email to all its 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

“There will be no extensions,” specifies the email, examined 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 offer by including that workers accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, 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 utilizing “a legitimate program to additional damage the abilities of companies to complete 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)