Federal Workers Offered Buyouts If They Don’t Want to Return to Office
The Trump administration is offering federal workers a buyout if they don’t want to return to the office in person. This move comes after the administration has ordered federal employees to return to the office from flexible work arrangements that were established during the pandemic.
The buyout offer applies to all federal employees, although there are some exceptions. The exceptions include postal workers, military personnel, immigration officials, national security roles that the administration is not specifying, and any role that agencies deem necessary.
Those who accept the buyout must resign by February 6 and will receive severance pay until September 30. The federal agencies were told about the offer within the past day.
Some federal workers union, the American Federation of Government Employees, expressed concerns that this offer is part of a larger plan to eliminate civil servants.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “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.”
The offer is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten its grip on the federal bureaucracy, which the president has characterized as the “deep state” and has vowed to dismantle.