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

March 13 is due date 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 challenge

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government agencies are turning to early retirement programs to lower headcount as they scramble to fulfill President Donald Trump's Thursday deadline for them to submit 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 Fda, are among the companies which have actually used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their jobs.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday due date, human resource professionals at a number of federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous loan providers.

All U.S. government companies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched campaign to revamp the federal government. One of his leading consultants, 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 likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided perks of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another government task within five years.

"If your method is to get as lots of people out the door willingly, that minimizes the threat 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 number of firms have telegraphed through media leaks how many workers they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no firm has yet sent its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's human resources department that is collating the information, an individual knowledgeable about the matter informed Reuters. OPM decreased to comment.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM staff members, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

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

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

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all its 19,000 workers announcing 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," specifies 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 employees accepting it would get two months of full 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 government employees, stated the Trump administration was utilizing "a legitimate program to more damage the abilities of companies to finish their objective."

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)