Millions of federal workers face deadline today over whether to resign. Here’s what to know.
More than 2 million federal employees face an imminent deadline: By midnight Thursday, they must decide whether to accept it “Deferred resignation” proposal From the Trump administration. If workers accept it under the White House plan, they will continue to be paid by September, but will be forgiven. However, if they choose to keep their jobs, they may be fired.
Employment lawyers and government regulators say the decision is a decision that affects the careers and livelihoods of Americans across the United States. Experts tell CBS MoneyWatch
The Trump administration may also lack the power to expand such deals, so deferred resignation is said to violate many laws, February 4 litigation The charges filed by several federal employee unions. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked the court to block the government’s proposal, which they called “arbitrary, capricious” and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that deals with how federal agencies enforce regulations.
Proposal for deferred resignation is the creativity of the second Trump administration, which has ordered federal workers to return Office five days a week Instruct government agencies to end remote work arrangements. The White House is expected to convince about about 10% of the federal civilian labor force to resign, saving $100 billion in annual costs.
CBS News sources familiar with the matter said that so far, about 40,000 federal workers have accepted the deal, or about 2% of the federal labor force.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt described the proposal on January 28 to “make our administration improve and productive again.”
“If (the federal workers) don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, they are free to choose other jobs, and the Trump administration will provide a very generous payment for eight months,” she said.
Take risks to workers
Experts say OPM’s offer includes many gray areas that may present pitfalls to employees who accept it.
“It is possible for employees to take this risk without knowing what will happen,” said Ryan Nerney, managing partner and federal employment law expert at law firm Tully Rinckey. “If you decide to accept this, and assume effective reduction,” said Ryan Nerney. Then your job is cancelled, so what will happen in this case.
Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, told CBS MoneyWatch that the agency’s email lacked details and assurances about the offer, which exacerbated confusion among government workers.
“It’s confusing – it says you don’t have to perform your duties anymore, but there’s a warning that you have to keep doing it if they need you.” Apart from “very rare cases” not expecting work .
Elon Musk’s “Fork”
Federal workers received a proposal from the Trump administration in an email titled “Fork on the Road” last month to reflect 2022 News Sent by billionaire Elon Musk to an employee of Twitter, a social media platform he purchased in October 2022, and was later renamed X.
Like Twitter’s early deals, OPM’s quotes include the requirement that federal workers make decisions before a specific date. Musk told Twitter employees in his 2022 email that they decided one day to agree to work in a “hardcore” style, or to withdraw and receive three months of severance payments.
Musk leads the White House Department of Administration Efficiency, the non-government task force for President Trump to cut federal costs. Tesla CEO has Praise The government’s deferred resignation proposal for X, claiming that employees who accept it can “do whatever you like, including getting a new job” while receiving government salaries and benefits in September.
While this may impress some workers like a deal, the union lawsuit claims that OPM may not have the financial authority to make the proposal. For example, the agency’s email noted that it would pay workers who agreed to resign from February 6 to September 30, but funds for most federal agencies will expire on March 14.
The lawsuit says it shows that the Trump administration is planning to spend money “before authorizing grants.” The complaint says that if so, it could be a violation of the Anti-Low Level Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending above their appropriate levels.
The lawsuit allegedly proposed a deferred resignation proposal also violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The law provides that if the court is “arbitrary, capricious, abuse of discretion or otherwise incompatibility with the law”, it can be found that the actions of government agencies are illegal.
Robert Weissman, co-president of the government overseeing group Citizens, said what could happen to federal workers who accepted the proposal if the proposal was considered illegal. “I can imagine going back to work and being told you don’t have a job and we won’t pay for you illegal plans,” he said.
Weissmann added that government employees should be “skeptical of what is actually going to deliver through this offer.”
Impact on federal services?
The proposal has not considered the impact of widespread resignation on the government’s ability to provide services to Americans, the coalition lawsuit says. Twitter (now X) suffers Number of questions The complaint said that after Musk cut most of his labor force, there were declines in advertisers and sharp declines in valuations.
Experts say that if government agencies lack enough staff to handle some services, such as tax refund processing, social security verification, or health care provided through Medicaid and Medicare, it can lead to confusion.
“There is no 10% of the staff on the Total Sled Fund (the public) that doesn’t feel any harm to it,” Greenwald said. “The federal government is not Twitter, it is funded by Congress and budgeted by the program, which is designed to maintain Laws passed by Congress.”
The Federal Employees Union also created decisions in OPM’s nine-day window for workers to make decisions, which the lawsuit calls “any date… selected to put maximum pressure on the federal labor force so that they can accept the offer, in many cases Contrary to the interests of federal agencies and federal employees.”
The lawsuit notes that making numerous career decisions for federal employees is different from previous voluntary resignation offers, with the Clinton administration’s acquisition providing workers with a year of acquisitions.
Enni said that despite unknowns in the OPM proposal, it may make sense for some government workers, such as those who are already planning to retire soon.
