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

March 13 is due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal difficulty

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government companies are turning to early retirement programs to decrease headcount as they scramble to satisfy President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to send strategies 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 amongst the companies which have actually provided lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their tasks.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, personnel specialists at a number of federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lending institutions.

All U.S. government companies have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unprecedented project to overhaul the 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 federal government's residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed via media leaks the number of staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming due date, no firm has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the federal government's human resources department that is collecting the data, an individual knowledgeable about the matter informed Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

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

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

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email 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," 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 deal by including that workers accepting it would get 2 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 workers, said the Trump administration was using "a genuine program to more damage the capabilities of firms to finish their mission."

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