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

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

Workers would get buyout payment of as much as $25,000

*

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 reduce headcount as they rush to satisfy President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to send strategies 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 firms which have offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who concur to leave their tasks.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, human resource experts at numerous federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus dishonest lenders.

All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to revamp the federal government. Among his top advisers, 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 home portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered benefits 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 challenges. It also requires workers who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

"If your method is to get as many individuals out the door willingly, that reduces the danger of court orders and opposition to you in the long run," stated Don Moynihan, a public policy teacher at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of agencies have actually telegraphed via media leaks how lots of staff members they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming due date, no company has yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government's personnels department that is looking at the data, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

At the General Services Administration, staff members were informed on Monday that OPM had greenlit a plan to use an early retirement program to all staff members.

"I motivate each of you to consider your options as we progress," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an email seen by Reuters. "The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on effectiveness 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 workers revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," mentions the email, evaluated 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 workers accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the benefit, 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, said the Trump administration was using "a legitimate program to additional damage the abilities of firms to complete their objective."

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