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

March 13 is deadline to submit plans for massive layoffs

Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $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 decrease headcount as they rush to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline 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 among the agencies which have offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their jobs.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resource experts at numerous federal firms informed 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 help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against deceitful lenders.

All U.S. government agencies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary project to upgrade the government. One of his leading 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 residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and has currently offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed via media leaks the number of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They include 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 yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government's human resources department that is looking at the data, an individual familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

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

"I motivate each of you to consider your options as we progress," 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 results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all its 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, due date to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," mentions 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 including that workers accepting it would get 2 months of full pay in addition to the benefit, 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, said the Trump administration was using "a legitimate program to more damage the abilities of companies to complete their objective."

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