Federal employees are being offered buyouts through a new ‘deferred resignation’ initiative, allowing them to resign while receiving pay until September.
Federal employees are being offered buyouts under the Trump administration’s new “deferred resignation” initiative, with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send emails with the proposal to federal workers, according to Katie Miller, a member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“This email is being sent to more than TWO MILLION federal employees,” Miller wrote in a
post on X on Jan. 28, in which she shared a
report by Axios indicating that the Trump administration will offer to pay eligible federal workers through the end of September, provided that they hand in their resignation by Feb. 6.
A
memo from OPM circulated on Jan. 28 in the agency aligns with reporting from Axios cited by Miller. It provides more details about the deferred resignation initiative, though it does not provide any details about the timing and scope of the email containing the proposal that is to be circulated to workers.
The White House did not respond to a request for additional information about the initiative. One of the objectives of DOGE is to reduce the size of the federal workforce as part of its broader mission to enhance governmental efficiency.
The OPM memo indicates that the voluntary program is being offered to all full-time federal employees, with the exception of personnel in the military, the U.S. Postal Service, immigration enforcement, and national security, or any positions specifically excluded by the employing agency.
“Deferred resignation exempts those employees who choose it from return-to-office requirements,” the memo states, noting also that employees who accept deferred resignation should have their duties re-assigned or eliminated promptly and be placed on administrative leave immediately until Sept. 30.
Employees will continue to accrue retirement benefits during the deferred resignation period, while those who miss the Feb. 6 deadline to submit their resignations due to factors like being on leave may be granted an extension, the memo states. Employees will also be allowed to accelerate their resignation date to earlier than Sept. 30, but no extensions will be permitted.
The buyout proposal has drawn criticism from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal employees.
“The number of civil servants hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a
statement. “Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary,” 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.”
The buyout proposal appears part of the administration’s effort to bring federal workers back into the office, as directed by President Donald Trump in a Jan. 20 presidential memorandum that calls on agency heads to
terminate remote work arrangements, with limited exceptions.
“Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, 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,” the memorandum
reads.
Subsequent to Trump’s order, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and OPM issued a
joint memo to agency heads on Jan. 27, ordering them to develop comprehensive strategies to ensure compliance with the return-to-office mandate. The memo directs agency heads to prepare implementation plans for Trump’s directive and submit them by Feb. 7, a day after the Feb. 6 date by which the employees who want to take advantage of the buyout would need to tender their resignations.
Meanwhile, the return-to-office plans the agency heads are being required to prepare include detailing steps for updating telework agreements, establish timelines for eligible employees to transition back to in-person work, and outline procedures for handling exceptions to the return-to-office mandate based on medical or other compelling circumstances. Additionally, agencies are instructed to identify any risks or obstacles, such as resource limitations, that might hinder a swift return to in-person operations.
Around 54 percent of all 2.28 million civilian federal workers worked fully onsite in roles that can’t be done remotely, according to an August 2024
report from the OMB. Ten percent of the total 2.8 million—or 228,000 employees—were in remote positions with no expectations for in-office work, per the report.
