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

March 13 is deadline to submit strategies for large-scale layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of as much as $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 government firms are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they rush to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to send strategies 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 firms which have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their jobs.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday due date, personnel specialists at numerous federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad claims after it fired countless probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus unethical lenders.

All U.S. government firms have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to overhaul the federal government. One of 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 manages the federal government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide 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 already used perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

"If your method is to get as many individuals out the door willingly, that reduces the threat 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 telegraphed via media leakages how lots of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd phase 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 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no company has actually yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government's personnels department that is collecting the information, an individual knowledgeable about the matter told Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

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

"I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we move forward," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on efficiency and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent an email 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," states 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 employees accepting it would get 2 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 government employees, stated the Trump administration was using "a legitimate program to further damage the capabilities of companies to finish their objective."

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)