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

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

Workers would get buyout payment of up to $25,000

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal obstacle

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they scramble to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to send 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 among the companies which have actually used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their jobs.

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

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against deceitful lending institutions.

All U.S. government firms have been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched campaign to revamp the federal government. One of 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 manages the government's property portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of firms have telegraphed via media leaks the number of workers they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. They include 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 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no agency has actually yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government's personnels department that is collecting the information, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

At the General Services Administration, staff members were notified on Monday that OPM had greenlit a strategy to offer an early retirement program to all eligible 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 effective and laser-focused on performance and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all its 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, due date to choose into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," specifies 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 deal by including that workers accepting it would get two months of full pay in addition to the bonus, 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 utilizing "a legitimate program to further damage the capabilities of firms to finish their objective."

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