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

March 13 is due date to submit strategies for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of as much as $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal obstacle

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 meet President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to submit plans 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 among the firms which have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who concur to leave their tasks.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday due date, personnel professionals at numerous federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against unethical loan providers.

All U.S. government agencies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched campaign to upgrade the government. Among 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 handles the federal government's home portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used rewards of approximately $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 susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise requires who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

"If your method is to get as numerous people out the door voluntarily, 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 couple of firms have telegraphed through media leaks the number of employees 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 firm has actually yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collecting the data, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

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

"I motivate each of you to consider your choices as we move on," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The brand-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 out an email to all its 19,000 workers revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," states the e-mail, 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 adding that employees accepting it would get two months of full 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 federal government employees, stated the Trump administration was utilizing "a genuine program to further damage the abilities of firms to complete 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)