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

March 13 is due date to send plans for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal challenge

By Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government firms are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they rush 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 Fda, are amongst the agencies which have actually offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their jobs.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help meet the Thursday due date, human resource experts at a number of federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

All U.S. government agencies have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched campaign to upgrade the government. One of 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 likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also needs workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the money if they take another government job within five years.

"If your technique is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that minimizes 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 couple of agencies have telegraphed via media leaks the number of staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd 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 planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

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

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to respond.

At the General Services Administration, employees were informed on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a strategy to use an early retirement program to all eligible employees.

"I motivate each of you to consider your options as we move on," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an e-mail 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 an e-mail to all its 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, due date to decide into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," specifies the email, reviewed 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 workers accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the reward, 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 federal government employees, said the Trump administration was utilizing "a genuine program to additional damage the abilities of companies to complete their mission."

OPM declined to react to Lenkart's comments. (Reporting by Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid, Marisa Taylor and Nathan Layne