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

March 13 is deadline to submit strategies for massive 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 firms are turning to early retirement programs to reduce headcount as they scramble to fulfill 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 Fda, are among the agencies which have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their tasks.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnel professionals at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus deceitful lenders.

All U.S. government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented project to revamp the government. Among his top 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 home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, 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 already offered bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource 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 requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed through media leaks how lots of employees they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 company has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government's human resources department that is collating the information, an individual acquainted with the matter told Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM staff members, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to react.

At the General Services Administration, employees were notified on Monday that OPM had greenlit a plan to use an early retirement program to all qualified workers.

"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 efficient and laser-focused on performance and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all its 19,000 workers announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline to decide into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," specifies 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 workers accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, 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, stated the Trump administration was utilizing "a legitimate program to further damage the capabilities of agencies to finish their mission."

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