Trump offers all federal workers a buyout with 7 months' pay in effort to shrink size of government

President Donald Trump (Official White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

The White House on Tuesday began offering buyouts worth seven months of salary to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by Feb. 6 - part of President Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the U.S. government.  

The buyout

Dig deeper:

A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government's human resources agency, lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce, including that most workers return to their offices full-time. 

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It includes a "deferred resignation letter" for federal employees wishing to participate. 

"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 government utilizing a deferred resignation program," the email reads. "This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6." 

It adds, "If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30."

Federal government overhaul

What we know:

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump implemented a freeze on funding for federal grants and loans. 

A federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze just minutes before it was set to go into effect. 

The pause will stay until Monday. 

Last week, Trump signed an executive order requiring federal employees to return to in-person work. 

The order comes after Trump indicated that he planned to push back on former President Joe Biden's move to allow federal workers to remain in a hybrid work arrangement through 2029. 

"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 order reads. 

Agencies must begin the move to fully in-person work by 5 p.m. on Friday, the order stated. 

In addition to the return-to-work order, Trump also signed an order freezing the hiring of federal civilian employees, to be applied throughout the executive branch. 

The order stated, "As part of this freeze, no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law." 

The freeze excludes military personnel and positions related to immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.

The Source: The Associated Press obtained a memo from the Office of Personnel Management. FOX TV Stations contributed to this report.


 

U.S.Donald J. Trump