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

March 13 is deadline to send strategies for massive layoffs

Workers would get buyout payment of approximately $25,000

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Buyout program less vulnerable to legal difficulty

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

March 11 (Reuters) - Multiple government companies are turning to early retirement programs to lower headcount as they rush to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services, its Food and Drug Administration, are amongst the firms which have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their tasks.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday due date, human resource experts at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad claims 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 firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against unethical loan providers.

All U.S. government companies have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday as part of Trump's unmatched project to overhaul the government. Among 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 manages the federal government's property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually 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 susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the deal to repay the money if they take another federal government job within five years.

"If your technique is to get as many individuals out the door willingly, that reduces the risk 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 number of companies have actually telegraphed by means of media leaks how lots of staff members they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. They include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

Despite the looming deadline, no agency has actually yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the federal government's personnels department that is collecting the data, an individual acquainted with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 OPM employees, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to react.

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

"I motivate each of you to consider your alternatives as we move on," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote in an email seen by Reuters. "The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on effectiveness and high-value outcomes."

On March 10, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all its 19,000 employees revealing 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," specifies the e-mail, 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 adding that workers accepting it would get 2 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 workers, said the Trump administration was utilizing "a legitimate program to additional damage the capabilities of companies to complete 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)