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

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

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

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal challenge

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government companies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease headcount as they rush to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to send prepare for a second 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 agencies which have actually provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their jobs.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help meet the Thursday due date, human resource professionals at numerous federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

All U.S. government companies have actually been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary campaign to upgrade 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 federal government's property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered rewards of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed through media leaks how numerous 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 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming deadline, no company has actually yet sent its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government's personnels department that is collating the data, an individual acquainted with the matter informed 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 provided up until March 12 to respond.

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

"I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives 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 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, deadline to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," states the email, 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 offer by including that employees accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, 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 federal government workers, stated the Trump administration was utilizing "a legitimate program to further damage the abilities of firms to complete their mission."

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