Greetings! This week, federal employees received an unexpected proposition from the recent Trump administration: they can either revert to full-time, in-office work conditions or choose to resign in exchange for a buyout. Allegedly, an email circulated among government staff on a Tuesday evening indicated that they should declare their intentions by Feb. 6. The choice permits them to either continue with their current positions or opt to depart while securing their salary and perks for an upcoming period of eight months.
If they select the buyout, they would obtain relief from any obligations mandating physical presence at work until September 30, 2025. As per data from a recent report by the Office of Management and Budget, approximately 2.2 million citizens are federally employed civilians, with around half of them having the flexibility to perform their duties remotely.
In a bid to encourage employees to voluntarily leave, the administration presented them a sample resignation document, thereby simplifying their exit. Intriguingly, this move seems to draw from a strategy employed by Elon Musk. The reported memo available on the Office of Personnel Management website interestingly carries the title ‘Fork in the Road,’ matching with Musk’s subject line when he released half of Twitter’s employees around 3,700 individuals, subsequent to his acquisition of the company in the autumn of 2022. He has since rebranded the company as ‘X.’
According to an expert from a labor and employment practice, Trump seems to be ‘borrowing from the corporate playbook.’ It is common in commercial enterprises to witness these kinds of voluntary resignations usually right before implementing mass layoffs or severe budget cuts. However, this approach within the public sector is viewed as ‘disconcerting.’
While the proposal set forth by Trump may appear enticing to some federal workers, several union organizations are counseling employees to tread cautiously before reaching a decision. They recommend waiting for more comprehensive advice before taking any decision.
The National Treasury Employees Union, a representative body for personnel in 36 federal departments and offices, responded on Tuesday with its cautionary advice to personnel against accepting the buyout. The conveyed message warned that this email was a strategy to coax or pressure them to leave the federal government. Their email stated, ‘Rest assured: this email seeks to coax or pressurize you into leaving your federal government position.’
The union further promised closer examination of the email content and planned to share more details soon. However, they strongly advised against employees tendering their resignations based solely on the inaugural email. In a similar vein, Senator Tim Kaine chimed in on Tuesday night with a warning to federal employees not to succumb to the proposed deal.
In his speech on the Senate floor, Senator Kaine contended that neither the President, nor his administration possess the legal authority to pitch such an offer. He underscored the absence of a specified budgetary allocation for monetary compensation of personnel who are not actively working. He also reminded the audience about the President’s inconsistent management of contractors in the past, adding, ‘Don’t be tricked.’
Legal authorities are also counseling similar patience and saying that the President’s jurisdiction to propose such an agreement is not yet clear. One employment law expert who specializes in severance pay claims that the offer seems uncharacteristically brash.
Furthermore, he pointed out the potential losses that employees could suffer in the future, should the Supreme Court establish that Trump was unqualified to introduce such an arrangement. The legal expert suggests that employees who accept this proposal implicitly place tremendous trust on the basis of an email, concluding, ‘This might be acceptable, but there is inherent risk. It’s akin to trusting a verbal agreement.’