Federal Workers Respond to Buyout Offer with Panic and Disbelief

On Tuesday the Trump administration offered nearly all federal workers (with the exception of postal workers) a buyout opportunity. An email sent out by OPM stated that all workers were expected to return to the office or alternatively to respond to the email with the word “resign.” Those who chose to resign would be given an 8-month severance with no expectation of further work.

The response to this offer has been a combination of panic and disbelief. The panic seems to stem from the fact that those who stay have no guarantee their jobs won’t be cut a few months from now as part of a DOGE effort to reduce the size of government. So taking the deal could turn out to be a better offer than what they will get later. As one DOJ employee who spoke to Politico anonymously put it, the buyout offer may be the last lifeboat.

“Chaos, mistrust, confusion,” said one employee at the Department of Justice who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation without fear of retribution. “There’s also a deep suspicion, especially among people who think they may be on the chopping block, that this is the last lifeboat in town.”…

“It’s unfathomable, the panic that it is causing throughout the government,” a second DOJ employee said. “And it is intentional. The new head of OMB [Russ Vought, who has not yet been confirmed by the Senate] said he wanted to traumatize the federal civil servants into leaving and it’s working.”

But government unions quickly organized and urged employees not to resign, suggesting the Trump administration couldn’t be trusted. Not surprisingly, this claim was an easy sell to the same anti-Trump employees who were already considering leaving.

Over the course of the day Wednesday, unions representing federal workers mobilized and implored members not to take the deal, denouncing it as a shady and slapdash attempt to scare workers into leaving on their own. Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said that most members “don’t trust this administration to hold up their end of the bargain, and others don’t see how this is legal.”

The American Federation of Government Employees emailed members a lengthy FAQ about the OPM resignation program, warning that it “should not [be taken] … at face value.”…

“Everyone else is like, ‘I don’t trust them,’” the third employee said. The email, they went on, “doesn’t seem real, there’s no guidance. It seems like it will be challenged. So it comes down to: Are you really willing to go to the casino and put your career on black?”

The Washington Post’s personal finance reporter wrote a piece today taking the same approach as the unions and urging people not to accept the offer.

If you’re a federal employee wondering whether to send that resignation email, here’s my advice: Don’t…

The purpose of this offer is to intimidate you into resigning.

“At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions,” the email says.

Stay and you could be fired is a thuggish threat.

As with any organization, there are often inefficiencies. But so many people depend on the work of civil servants. A more measured and thoughtful examination of cuts would be the sensible — and more humane — way to address concerns about bloated agencies.

It’s only a “thuggish threat” if it’s not true. In other words, if OPM is sending this out but there’s really no danger of these people losing their jobs, then it’s a threat. If on the other hand a reduction in force is almost guaranteed to happen in the next year then this isn’t a threat it’s just realistic information about what is coming next. But the unions and the media would rather turn this into another way to stoke the resistance and, with at least some people, it seems to be working.

That DOL employee added that, for now, they aren’t planning on opting into the resignation program. “I’d rather be fired for resisting and making their lives hell,” they said…

“[B]efore that email went out, I was looking for any way to get out of this fresh hell,” one employee wrote on Reddit. “But now I am fired up to make these goons as frustrated as possible, [return to office] be damned.”

So there you have it. The Trump administration is moving toward reducing the size of government and made an offer of 8 months severance for anyone willing to resign but the Democratic political machine has stepped in to convince people the offer isn’t real, can’t be trusted and should be rejected in an act of partisan resistance. 

Some of these folks may come to regret this. They may in fact be turning down the last lifeboat, one which would give them half a year to look for a new job. But I don’t imagine the Democratic party operatives in the unions and the media much care about the actual outcomes here, only the resistance sideshow they are trying to stoke for their own purposes.