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

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

Workers would receive buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible to legal obstacle

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple federal government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to minimize headcount as they rush to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday due date 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 firms which have provided lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their jobs.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, personnel professionals at several federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad suits after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled entire departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lenders.

All U.S. government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary project to overhaul the . One of his top 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 property portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, 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 actually currently provided bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise requires employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

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

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed via media leaks how lots 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 due date, no agency has yet submitted its job-cutting strategy to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collating the data, an individual knowledgeable about the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

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

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

"I motivate each of you to consider your choices 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 effectiveness and high-value results."

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all its 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline to opt into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," states the e-mail, reviewed by Reuters and signed by Tania Tse, director of the FDA's Office of Human Capital Management.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior VSIP offer by including 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, said the Trump administration was utilizing "a genuine program to further damage the capabilities of firms to complete their mission."

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