US Agencies Offer Staff new Buyouts Ahead Of Trump's Layoff Deadline > 자유게시판

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

March 13 is deadline to submit plans for large-scale layoffs

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

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Buyout program less vulnerable 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 decrease headcount as they rush to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to submit strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, and the of Health and Human Services, including its Fda, are among the firms which have used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their tasks.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnel professionals at several federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips 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 agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against dishonest loan providers.

All U.S. federal government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary project to upgrade the federal government. Among 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 handles the government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used bonuses of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It likewise needs workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

"If your strategy is to get as many individuals out the door voluntarily, that lowers the risk 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 agencies have actually telegraphed through 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no company has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government's personnels department that is looking at the information, an individual acquainted with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has actually offered lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.

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

"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 brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on performance and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all its 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, due date to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," states the e-mail, 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 adding that employees accepting it would get 2 months of complete 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 workers, stated the Trump administration was using "a legitimate program to additional damage the capabilities of agencies to complete their mission."

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