Agencies using lump-sum payments, early retirement program to cut federal workers
March 13 is deadline to submit prepare for massive layoffs
Workers would receive buyout payment of approximately $25,000
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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal challenge
By Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne
March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government companies are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they rush to satisfy President Donald Trump's Thursday due date 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 Food and Drug Administration, are among the companies which have actually provided lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their tasks.
The buyout provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday deadline, human resource experts at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.
The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus dishonest lenders.
All U.S. federal government companies have actually been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to overhaul the federal 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 manages the federal government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used benefits of approximately $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 vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.
"If your method 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," stated Don Moynihan, a public law professor at the University of Michigan.
OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS
Only a couple of companies have telegraphed through media leakages how many employees they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. They consist of 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 company has actually yet sent its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collecting the data, a person familiar with the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.
OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM employees, according to another person 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 plan to offer an early retirement program to all qualified workers.
"I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we move forward," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an email 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 Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all its 19,000 staff members 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," specifies 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 prior VSIP offer by including that employees accepting it would get 2 months of full 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 workers, stated the Trump administration was utilizing "a genuine program to further damage the capabilities of companies to complete their objective."
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)