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

March 13 is due date to send prepare for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of as much as $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal obstacle

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they rush to fulfill 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 among the agencies which have offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who concur to leave their tasks.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnel professionals at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

All U.S. federal government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary project to overhaul the federal 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 handles the federal government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

"If your method is to get as numerous people out the door voluntarily, that reduces the danger 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 number of companies have telegraphed by means of media leaks how numerous workers 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming deadline, no firm has actually yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the federal government's human resources department that is the data, an individual familiar with the matter informed Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

At the General Services Administration, employees were informed on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a plan to offer an early retirement program to all eligible 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 effectiveness and high-value outcomes."

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

"There will be no extensions," specifies 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 full pay in addition to the reward, 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, stated the Trump administration was using "a legitimate program to additional 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)