CNN
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Federal workers who don’t want to return to the office will be offered buyouts Tuesday, a Trump administration official and a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management told CNN.
The administration has ordered federal workers, many of whom had flexible work arrangements following the pandemic, back to the office to work in person.
Workers who accept the buyout will need to resign by February 6 and would receive severance paid through September 30.
The heads of the federal agencies were told within the last day that this would be coming, the official said.
All employees across the federal government are being offered to go on what the OPM spokesperson described as paid administrative leave. The Trump administration argues the move could be an off-ramp for federal employees who do not want to return to the office full time, but any government employee can take the buyout, the OPM spokesperson said.
However, there are some exceptions to the buyout: Postal workers, members of the military, immigration officials, certain national security roles that the administration wouldn’t specify and any other role that agencies deem as being necessary will not be able to opt in, the sources said.
Axios was first to report on the buyouts.
The move comes as the Trump administration tightens its grip on the federal bureaucracy, which the president has long characterized as the “deep state” and vowed to dismantle.
Soon after he was inaugurated, Trump ordered federal agencies to require employees to return to the office full time and signed an order aimed at weakening federal employee protections. He’s also ordered agencies to work to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion offices and positions within 60 days and ended the use of DEI in hiring and federal contracting.
The orders have alarmed federal workers and the unions that represent them, leaving employees worried about their jobs and their ability to carry out the missions that lured them into public service, CNN previously reported.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, argued Tuesday that the buyouts were part of larger plan to get rid of civil servants.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. 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,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
