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

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

Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal obstacle

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 rush to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to send 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 Food and Drug Administration, are among the firms which have offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their tasks.

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

The Trump administration has been facing myriad claims 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 secures Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

All U.S. federal government agencies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to revamp the federal government. Among his top advisors, the tech billionaire Elon Musk, is that effort with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government's home portfolio, is also seeking approval to use 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 bonus offers of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource 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 challenges. It also needs workers who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed by means of media leaks the number of staff members 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 preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming deadline, no firm has yet sent its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the government's human resources department that is collecting the information, an individual knowledgeable about 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 individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to react.

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

"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 effective and laser-focused on performance and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all its 19,000 workers revealing 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 including that employees accepting it would get 2 months of complete pay in addition to the perk, 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 more damage the abilities of companies to complete their objective."

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