Jan. 28 (UPI) — The Trump administration is offering eight-month “deferred resignation” offers to federal workers who do not wish to return to the office, provided they resign within the next week, according to a White House memo.
The memo, shared publicly online by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said it would provide pay and benefits through September if resignations are rendered by Feb. 6.
“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program,” according to the memo sent to employees Tuesday.
The memo states that employees who resign under this program would “retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until Sept. 30, 2025,” or early if an employee chooses to accelerate their resignation “for any reason.”
The OPM later clarified that employees would not be expected to work “except in rare cases determined by your agency.”
The offer was presented Tuesday to 2.3 million federal employees.
The emailed memo, first reported by Axios and sent using the Trump administration’s new mass email system, reminded workers of the president’s return to in-person work order, signed last week. Remote work policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic had remained in place for many federal workers.
“The president required that employees return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees who have policy-making authority, restored accountability for senior career executives and reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit,” the memo states, adding that the “reform of the federal workforce will be significant.”
Tuesday’s emailed memo also included a draft resignation letter, which employees could simply reply to with the word “resign,” if they choose to leave.
“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce,” the email added.
Those federal workers exempt from the offer include military service members, postal workers, immigration officials and select workers in national security roles.
“American taxpayers pay for the salaries of 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 said in a statement.
“If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump administration will provide a very generous payout of eight months.”
While the Trump administration claims it is making the offers to get remote workers back into offices, the largest federal workers union argues it is part of a larger plan to get rid of civil servants.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary,” according to American Federation of Government Employees national president Everett Kelley. “The number of civil servants hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services.”
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” Kelley added.
“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.”
Editor’s note: This story previously referred to the offer as a “buyout.” The language has been updated to “deferred resignation” to match the language used by the administration.