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Q&A: What Trump’s latest moves could mean for federal workers

The Trump administration is making an unprecedented offer to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs — a move to shrink the U.S. government at breakneck speed.

Millions of employees received the email which offered about eight months salary to those who resign by next week.

Tom Temin, host of the Federal Drive on WTOP’s sister station, Federal News Network, joined John Aaron and Michelle Basch on Wednesday morning to figure out precisely what the move might mean.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 


John Aaron: So Tom, what is the administration specifically telling federal employees?

Tom Temin: Well, it’s telling them they want them to leave in large numbers, and if they take this offer, they get basically eight months of pay, which can be better than traditional buyouts depending on your salary level. Otherwise, they say there is no guarantee of your job beyond that, because they plan on making reductions across the board.

Michelle Basch: Now, what about accrued retirement benefits here?

Tom Temin: That’s complicated. If you have a Thrift Savings Plan account, that’s yours, and if you left the government, you could transfer to an IRA. If you have not been there very long, then you won’t have federal retirement benefits. It’s a really complicated calculus depending on how long you’ve been there and what your age is. But the older employees, the ones that have been there a long time, should be able to keep their annuities for when they retire

John Aaron: What happens to people who say they simply don’t want to resign? Usually, these types of offers come with the implicit threat of, “Hey, take the resignation offer, or you’re going to be going anyway.”

Tom Temin: It says in the memo, in the email, ‘The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments and reductions in force. These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and reclassification to at will for substantial numbers of federal employees.’ So that’s what they’re telling people: ‘Take it now, with the money, or you might just have to go with nothing later on when we get around to you.’



Michelle Basch: Do they have some kind of estimate as to how many people they think will take this offer?

Tom Temin: They’ve put out estimates … I think at a press conference, they said 5% to 7% have. I don’t think anybody can have a wild guess as to how many people will take it. I think it depends on how employable you think you are in the open market, lawyers, people in cyber security or information technology, pretty portable skills. They could probably find jobs quickly. If you’re a program manager for something obscure, maybe not so much.

John Aaron: It’s safe to say there’s no precedent for this, right?

Tom Temin: I’ve never seen anything like this. Typically, reductions in force have been very targeted, agency by agency, surgical. I’ve never seen anything on a mass scale like this before. And (that’s after) watching this for a third of a century.

John Aaron: Have any federal workers, without betraying any confidences, reached out to you? And what are they saying?

Tom Temin: They’re saying they don’t know. They’re worried about taking their benefits with them, especially the healthcare benefit. But they say it’s all chaotic. Nobody knows anything at this point.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to refer to the offer made to federal employees as a deferred resignation as opposed to a buyout.

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