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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 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 federal government companies are turning to early retirement programs to lower headcount as they rush to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to send prepare 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 Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the firms which have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their jobs.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnel professionals at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unscrupulous lending institutions.

All U.S. government firms have actually been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary project to overhaul the federal government. Among his leading 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 federal government's home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided bonuses of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It also needs workers who have actually the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

"If your strategy is to get as many individuals 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 companies have telegraphed through media leakages how many employees they plan to cut in the 2nd 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no company has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collecting the information, an individual familiar with the matter informed Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

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

"I encourage each of you to consider your choices as we move forward," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an email 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 workers 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," 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 previous VSIP offer by including that employees accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the perk, 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 employees, stated the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to more 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; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis)