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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 prepare for massive layoffs

Workers would get buyout payment of as much as $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible 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 reduce headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump’s Thursday due date for them to send strategies 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 agencies which have offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who agree to leave their jobs.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resource professionals at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

All U.S. government companies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump’s unprecedented campaign to upgrade the federal government. One of 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 federal government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

« If your strategy is to get as lots of people out the door willingly, that lowers the threat of court orders and opposition to you in the long run, » said Don Moynihan, a public law teacher at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed via media leaks the number of workers they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no firm has yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government’s human resources department that is looking at the data, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

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

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

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

« There will be no extensions, » states the e-mail, 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 deal 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 government employees, stated the Trump administration was using « a legitimate program to additional damage the capabilities of firms 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)