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

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

Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less susceptible 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 reduce headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to send prepare for a 2nd 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 offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their tasks.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resource professionals at numerous federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless 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 safeguards Americans against unethical lenders.

All U.S. federal government firms have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday as part of Trump's extraordinary project to revamp the government. One of his top 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 seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided bonus offers of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnel and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation reward payments, is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

"If your strategy is to get as numerous people out the door willingly, that minimizes the threat of court orders and opposition to you in the long run," stated Don Moynihan, a public law professor at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of firms have telegraphed by means of media leakages the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. They consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming due date, no company has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's human resources department that is looking at the information, an individual familiar with the matter informed Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

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

At the General Services Administration, employees were informed on Monday that OPM had 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 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 performance and high-value outcomes."

On March 10, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all its 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline to decide into a VSIP. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

"There will be no extensions," mentions the email, evaluated 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 adding that employees accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, 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, said the Trump administration was utilizing "a legitimate program to additional damage the capabilities of companies to finish their mission."

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