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

March 13 is due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

Workers would get 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 government companies are turning to early retirement programs to lower headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date 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 Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the firms which have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resource specialists at several federal companies informed Reuters.

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

All U.S. government agencies have actually been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented project to revamp the federal government. Among his top advisers, 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 property portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered rewards of approximately $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 likewise requires workers who have the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed via media leakages the number of employees they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They consist of 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 yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government's personnels department that is collecting the information, a person acquainted with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM staff members, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered till March 12 to react.

At the General Services Administration, staff members 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 options as we progress," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on effectiveness and high-value results."

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

"There will be no extensions," mentions 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 full 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 utilizing "a genuine program to further damage the capabilities of agencies to complete their objective."

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