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US Agencies Offer Staff Brand-new Buyouts Ahead Of Trump's Layoff Deadline

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

March 13 is due date to send plans for large-scale layoffs

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

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal challenge

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government firms are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they scramble to satisfy President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to submit 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 actually offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their tasks.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resource specialists at several federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against unethical lending institutions.

All U.S. federal government firms have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented project to overhaul 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 manages the federal government's property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed by means of media leaks the number of employees they plan to cut in the second 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no agency has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is looking at the information, an individual knowledgeable about the matter told Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

At the General Services Administration, workers were notified on Monday that OPM had greenlit a plan to offer an early retirement program to all qualified employees.

"I encourage each of you to consider your alternatives 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 outcomes."

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all its 19,000 workers announcing 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 email, 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 offer by adding that workers accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, 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 government employees, stated the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to additional damage the abilities of firms to finish their mission."

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