Agencies utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement program to cut federal workers
March 13 is deadline to send plans for large-scale layoffs
Workers would get buyout payment of up to $25,000
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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal difficulty
By Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne
March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government companies are turning to early retirement programs to lower headcount as they scramble to fulfill 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 Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the agencies which have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their tasks.
The buyout uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnel specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.
The Trump administration has been facing myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus unscrupulous lending institutions.
All U.S. government companies have actually been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to upgrade the federal government. One of 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 home portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided perks of approximately $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 vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government job within five years.
"If your method is to get as lots of people out the door voluntarily, that minimizes the risk 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 firms have telegraphed by means of media leaks the number of employees they plan to cut in the second stage of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.
Despite the looming due date, no company has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's human resources department that is looking at the information, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.
OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to respond.
At the General Services Administration, employees were informed on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a strategy to offer an early retirement program to all qualified staff members.
"I motivate each of you to consider your options as we move on," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The brand-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 revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to opt 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 offer by including that employees accepting it would get two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, 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 genuine program to more damage the capabilities of agencies to finish 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)
