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

March 13 is due date to submit strategies for large-scale layoffs

Workers would receive buyout payment of up to $25,000

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Buyout program less vulnerable 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 lower headcount as they scramble to meet President Donald Trump's Thursday due date for them to send prepare 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 among the agencies which have actually provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their jobs.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resource specialists at several federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID, the U.S. humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

All U.S. government companies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans 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 handles the federal government's home portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resource and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program, called voluntary separation incentive payments, is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

"If your method is to get as lots of people out the door voluntarily, that reduces the danger of court orders and opposition to you in the long run," said Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan.

OPM STILL WAITING FOR PLANS

Only a number of agencies have telegraphed through media leaks the number of staff members 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

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

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

At the General Services Administration, staff members were informed 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 alternatives as we progress," GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian composed in an e-mail seen by Reuters. "The brand-new GSA will be slimmer, more effective and laser-focused on efficiency and high-value results."

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

"There will be no extensions," specifies 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 adding that workers accepting it would get two months of complete pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters.

Steve Lenkart, of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union which represents 110,000 government workers, stated the Trump administration was utilizing "a genuine program to more damage the capabilities 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)