More Than 20,000 Federal Workers Have Taken Buyout Offer, Surge Expected Before Feb. 6 Deadline, Says Official

The entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building that houses the Office of Personnel Management headquarters is shown in Washington on June 5, 2021. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—More than 20,000 federal workers have accepted President Donald Trump’s buyout offer since last week, and officials expect many more before the Feb. 6 deadline, according to a knowledgeable administration official.

“On background, I can tell you that the 20,000 number isn’t current. The number of deferred resignations is rapidly growing, and we’re expecting the largest spike to come 24 to 48 hours before the deadline,” the official told The Epoch Times.

The official was responding to a report by Axios.

There are 2.3 million civilian federal workers, the vast majority of whom are in the career service, which enjoys multiple regulatory protections. Under the current system, more than 18 months on average are required to terminate such a worker, but the actual time involved can easily stretch significantly longer.

The average federal employee salary is $106,382, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, as analyzed by the Pew Research Center. The median average household income for all Americans is $75,149, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

If 10 percent of the civilian workforce accepted the buyout offer, it would cut spending by more than $24 billion. According to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data, the government’s turnover rate is 6 percent to 8 percent in a typical year, mainly because of retirements.

Trump’s offer is part of his promised initiative to reduce the size and cost of the federal government, an effort assigned to the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body headed by billionaire space and auto entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The buyout offer allows federal workers who accept it to receive full pay and benefits coverage for eight months, exempts them from newly issued orders to return to work at their official duty stations on a daily basis, and protects them against reduction-in-force processes that are expected to begin in the near future in many federal departments and agencies.

Officials with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest such union with 800,000 members, are encouraging civil servants to reject Trump’s offer.

“There is not yet any evidence the administration can or will uphold its end of the bargain, that Congress will go along with this unilateral massive restructuring, or that appropriated funds can be used this way, among other issues that have been raised,” AFGE told its members in a Feb. 3 email.

OPM officials said the union is misrepresenting the facts about the buyout offer.

“Union leaders and politicians telling federal workers to reject this offer are doing them a serious disservice,” OPM’s director of communications, McLaurine Pinover, told The Epoch Times. “This is a rare, generous opportunity, one that was thoroughly vetted and intentionally designed to support employees through restructuring.

“Instead of spreading misinformation and using workers as political pawns, they should be making sure federal employees have the facts and freedom to make the best decision for themselves and their families.”