The Trump administration is offering all 2 million federal employees what amounts to a buyout if they do not intend to return to work in person later this year, sources confirmed to The Hill.
Three sources confirmed to The Hill that the emails are set to go out beginning Tuesday evening to the federal employees informing workers that they can retain benefits and be paid through September if they hand in their resignation by Feb. 6.
The emails are expected to come from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), two sources said.
An email to some federal employees reviewed by The Hill didn’t reference the buyouts specifically but said OPM would begin sending out an announcement “starting tonight.”
“Starting tonight, OPM will be sending out an important federal workforce announcement to all full-time federal employees,” the email stated.
Axios, which first reported on the buyout offer, reported that the White House expects 5 percent to 10 percent of federal employees to take the offer, which would amount to hundreds of thousands of workers.
Remote work became common for federal employees during the coronavirus pandemic, but Trump and his allies have sought to get workers back in the office.
Trump on his first day in office signed a memorandum directing all departments and agencies in the executive branch to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
Trump has sought to remake the federal workforce in other ways since taking office. He has fired more than a dozen inspectors general across different agencies; his Justice Department ousted prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s team; and he signed an executive order giving him greater authority over federal employees.