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

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

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

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal difficulty

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease as they rush to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to submit 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 companies which have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their tasks.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday due date, personnel experts at numerous federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unscrupulous lending institutions.

All U.S. federal government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented campaign to revamp the 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 home portfolio, is also looking for approval to use 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 currently provided bonus offers of up to $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 vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs workers who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed via media leakages the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the second 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 preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming due date, no company has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government's human resources department that is looking at the data, an individual knowledgeable about the matter told Reuters. OPM decreased 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 given until March 12 to respond.

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 employees.

"I encourage each of you to consider your choices as we move forward," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on performance and high-value outcomes."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out 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," mentions the e-mail, 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 offer, 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 workers, stated the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to more damage the capabilities of agencies 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)