Agencies using 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 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 agencies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease headcount as they rush to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to send 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 Fda, are amongst the companies which have provided lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their jobs.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, human resource specialists at a number of federal firms informed Reuters.

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

All U.S. government companies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary campaign to upgrade the government. One of his leading consultants, the tech billionaire Elon Musk, is leading that effort with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government's property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer 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 provided rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

"If your method is to get as numerous people out the door willingly, that lowers the risk 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 couple of agencies have actually telegraphed via media leaks the number of workers they prepare to cut in the second stage of . 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no firm has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government's human resources department that is looking at the information, an individual familiar with the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

OPM itself has actually provided 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, workers were informed on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a plan to offer an early retirement program to all eligible employees.

"I encourage each of you to consider your choices as we progress," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an email seen by Reuters. "The new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on effectiveness and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all its 19,000 staff members announcing a Friday, March 14, due date to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," states 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 prior VSIP offer by including that employees accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, 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 utilizing "a legitimate program to more damage the capabilities of firms to complete their mission."

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)