Agencies utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement program to cut federal workers
March 13 is deadline to send strategies for large-scale layoffs
Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000
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Buyout program less susceptible to legal challenge
By Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne
March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government companies are turning to early retirement programs to reduce headcount as they rush to fulfill 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, its Food and Drug Administration, are among the agencies which have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their jobs.
The buyout uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resource professionals at a number of federal firms told Reuters.
The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus deceitful loan providers.
All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to revamp the government. One of his leading advisors, 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 seeking approval to provide 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 actually already provided rewards of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.
Personnel and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. 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 technique is to get as lots of people out the door willingly, that decreases the danger of court orders and opposition to you in the long run," said Don Moynihan, a public policy teacher at the University of Michigan.
OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS
Only a couple of companies have actually telegraphed by means of media leaks how numerous staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. They include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collecting the data, a person knowledgeable about the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.
OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.
At the General Services Administration, workers were informed on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a plan to provide an early retirement program to all qualified employees.
"I encourage each of you to consider your alternatives 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 performance and high-value outcomes."
On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all its 19,000 workers revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.
"There will be no extensions," states 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 previous VSIP deal 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, said the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to more damage the capabilities of companies to finish their mission."
OPM declined to react to Lenkart's comments. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis)
