Trump offers buyouts to federal employees
By: Joey Garrison
and Jessica Guynn
USA Today
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is offering buyouts to all federal employees who don't wish to return to work at the office,a white House official confirmed to USA Today.
.....
The offer, outlined in a memo the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent to employees Tuesday [01/28/2025] would give federal workers eight months of pay and benefits through September [2025] if they resign by February 6. [2025]
..... "If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program," the memo reads.
..... The move, first reported by Axios, comes after Persistent Donald Trump signed an order last week [01/21/2025] requiring all federal workers to return to in-person work. Work-from-home polices enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic remain in place for many federal workers.
..... the memo was titled "fork in the Rad," the same subject ling that billionaire businessman Elon Musk used when he gave X employees a similar ultimatum in 2022. Musk, who heads Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, has talked about a drastic reduction of the federal workforce to scale back the size of government and posted about the news on X.
.....
It was not immediately clear how much the voluntary buyout program could cost the government or how many employees might participate.
..... The federal government employs approximately 2 million people.
..... Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virgina, questioned the Trump administration's authority to offerer government-wide buyouts. Speaking on the senate floor, he said employees who accept it risk not being paid.
..... "Don't be fooled," Kaine said. "He's tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign, he'll stiff you just lie he stiffed the contractors. He doesn't have any authority to do this.
..... Under federal guidelines, severance pay is offered only to employees who have worked at least 12 months of continuous service and were not let go for unacceptable performance of conduct.
..... Employee who accept the buyout should "promptly have their duties resigned or eliminated and be placed on paid administrative leave until the end of the deferred resignation period," Charles Ezell, acting director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, wrote in a memo to heads of departments and agencies.
.....
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union representing about 800,000 workers, slammed the buyout, noting the federal workforce is about the same size as it was in 1970 even though more American rely on government services.
..... "Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a function federal government," AFGE National President Everett Kelly said in a statement.