Dive Brief:
- The Trump administration informed federal employees Tuesday that they could receive buyouts, according to a memo posted by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
- Those workers who opt for a “deferred resignation” have until Feb. 6 to make their decision and will receive pay and benefits through Sept. 30, unless they choose to leave earlier. These workers also will be exempted from return-to-work mandates, the memo said.
- Workers who do not resign during this window are not ensured that their position or agency will not be eliminated, per OPM. “Should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions,” the memo said.
Dive Insight:
The announcement comes on the heels of Jan. 20 executive orders directing federal agencies to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work” and to adhere to a new federal hiring freeze.
The hiring freeze executive order also instructed leaders of the Office of Management and Budget, OPM and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency to create a plan to reduce the size of the federal government “through efficiency improvements and attrition.”
Elon Musk, who President Trump picked to head DOGE, previously said that a full-time RTO mandate “would result in a wave of voluntary terminations” that would be welcomed in his bid to reduce costs and the size of the federal government.
An OPM spokesperson confirmed to HR Dive that the administration expects 5-10% of federal employees to accept the offer, amounting to $100 billion in savings.
American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said the buyouts “will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government” and “should not be viewed as voluntary.”
“Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to,” Kelley said in a statement.