The Trump administration is planning widespread layoffs among the federal workforce soon, leaving employees who don’t accept its deferred resignation offer at risk of losing their jobs, two Trump administration officials told CNN.
The layoffs, which are being referred to internally as sweeping “Reductions in Force,” are expected to begin soon after the Thursday 11:59 p.m. ET deadline that the Office of Personnel Management set for workers to accept the resignation package, the officials said.
The package allows them to leave voluntarily and be paid through September 30 but not have to continue working.
Federal workers unions, however, have strongly opposed the controversial offer, which was unveiled in a mass email from the OPM to federal employees on January 28.
On Tuesday, the American Federation of Government Employees and several other unions filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Massachusetts seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the February 6 deadline. The unions also want to “require the government to articulate a policy that is lawful, rather than an arbitrary, unlawful, short-fused ultimatum which workers may not be able to enforce.”
However, OPM is continuing to warn employees that those who do not opt in to the program could lose their jobs and, at the very least, will be required to return full time to the office.
OPM is also sweetening the pot for older federal workers. It is now offering an early retirement incentive — known as Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA — to those who meet the eligibility criteria and who opt in to the deferred resignation program, a source familiar with the offer told CNN on Tuesday. Employees must be at least 50 years old with at least 20 years of service or be any age with at least 25 years of service.
Some 2.4 million people work for the federal government, not including postal workers, who are not eligible for the deferred retirement package. Also excluded are military personnel and those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, among others.