The Trump’s administration is offering federal workers the chance to take a “deferred resignation,” which would mean they agree now to resign but get paid through September; the offer is meant to end work-from-home practices, per CBS News. Trump administration officials said that only about 6% of federal employees work full-time in office, and there are about 2 million federal government employees across the country, which means that the administration expects that as many as 200,000 may take the government’s offer. Senior administration officials told NBC News that the percentage of federal workers resigning could potentially lead to around $100 billion in savings.
News outlet Axios was first to report the news of the Trump administration’s buyout offer. The White House expects up to 10% of federal employees to quit, issuing a memo offering to pay federal workers who don’t want to return to the office through Sept. 30, as long as they resign by Feb. 6. The offer went out to the federal workforce through a new system the Trump administration set up that gives officials the ability to email all federal employees at once. All full-time federal employees are eligible, except for members of the military, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and other jobs excluded by agencies. The email included a draft resignation letter for them to review; if an employee wishes to resign, they will be able to reply with the word “resign.
The email send to federal workers read (in part): “If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce. At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions. … you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason).”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “American taxpayers pay for the salaries of federal government employees, and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers. If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months.”
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, criticized the program. AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement: “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 functioning federal government. This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”.
Editorial credit: Chip Somodevilla / Shutterstock.com
