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

March 13 is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

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

*

Buyout program less vulnerable to legal challenge

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to reduce headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to submit plans 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 Fda, are amongst the agencies which have actually used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their tasks.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, personnel specialists at several federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary employees in a 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 unethical lenders.

All U.S. federal government companies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented campaign to revamp the government. Among his leading 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 home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within five 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," stated Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of firms have telegraphed via media leaks the number of employees they plan 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 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no firm has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collating the data, a person acquainted with the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

At the General Services Administration, workers were notified on Monday that OPM had actually greenlit a strategy to use an early retirement program to all eligible staff members.

"I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we progress," GSA Acting Administrator wrote in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on efficiency and high-value outcomes."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all its 19,000 employees revealing 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," specifies 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 deal by including that employees accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the benefit, 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 employees, stated the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to more damage the capabilities of companies to complete their mission."

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)