US Agencies Offer Staff Brand-new Buyouts Ahead Of Trump's Layoff Dead…

Agencies utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement program to cut federal workers

March 13 is due date to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible 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 reduce headcount as they rush to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to submit prepare 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 amongst the companies which have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their jobs.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resource specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lending institutions.

All U.S. government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented campaign to upgrade the federal government. Among 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 looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered bonuses of approximately $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 actually accepted the offer to pay back the money if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

"If your strategy is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that reduces 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 number of agencies have actually telegraphed through media leaks how numerous employees they plan 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 preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming due date, no agency has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government's personnels department that is looking at the data, an individual knowledgeable about the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased 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 offered until March 12 to respond.

At the General Services Administration, employees were notified on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a plan to offer an early retirement program to all eligible staff members.

"I motivate each of you to consider your options as we progress," Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on performance and high-value outcomes."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all its 19,000 staff members announcing 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," 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 2 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 federal government workers, said the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to more damage the abilities of companies to complete their objective."

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