Around one percent of federal employees have taken up President Trump’s buyout offer of eight months’ salary to quit their job.
The deal went out to two million employees and they have until tomorrow (February 6th) to accept the deal or face possible dismissal.
The move is part of a huge undertaking to slash federal spend, led by Elon Musk, the DOGE chair.
Mandates to Encourage Moves
The buyout deal was announced shortly before a memo was published by the Office of Personnel Management. It gave details of four mandates – one of which is a full-time return to the office. This came as no surprise, with Trump being vocal about his views on RTO policies for months ahead of his inauguration.
Only four weeks ago, he said at his first major press conference since being elected: “If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed.”
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“American taxpayers pay for the salaries of the 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.” – White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
Will Targets Be Met?
As the numbers rise, it is looking unlikely that the Trump Administration will get to its target of 5-10%. Indeed, Musk (and his then – but now fired – DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy) had even loftier aims, saying that they were aiming to “thin federal bureaucracy by 25%.”
A reported 20,000 federal workers have now signed up, but there aren’t details as to which departments they come from. Do they include, for example, the workers from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the top US aid agency, which the Trump Administration has decided to completely shut down?
Is the Buyout Legal?
There are arguments within the government that the buyout offer isn’t actually legal. Most notably, those who have signed up for the deal might not get paid, as this would require Congress’ authorization.
There is also concern about a clause in the contract employees have to sign if accepting the deal. It states that they “forever waive” their right to take legal action against the agency that they work for in relation to either their employment or the deferred resignation offer, a questionable legal clause at best.
Whether the number of workers taking the deferred resignation deal continues to rise, questions over the deal’s legitimacy need to be addressed, not least because Trump is moving at a breakneck pace on this.
