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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 up to $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 government companies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump’s Thursday due date for them to send 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 offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their tasks.

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

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unethical loan providers.

All U.S. federal government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump’s unmatched project to overhaul the government. One of his top 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 home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less to legal obstacles. It likewise requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back 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 lowers the threat 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 actually telegraphed through media leaks the number of workers they prepare to cut in the second stage 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 firm has yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government’s human resources department that is collecting the data, an individual acquainted with the matter told Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

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

« I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we move on, » GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an email seen by Reuters. « The 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 an e-mail to all its 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to decide into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

« There will be no extensions, » specifies the e-mail, reviewed 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 deal by including that employees accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the perk, 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, stated the Trump administration was using « a legitimate program to more damage the capabilities of companies to finish their mission. »

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