HHS Employees Reportedly Offered $25,000 Buyout To Quit Their Jobs

Employees in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were offered the option to resign voluntarily for a $25,000 payment on Friday, a source told CBS News.

In a department-wide email, employees were offered a “voluntary separation incentive payment,” CBS reported, citing a source familiar with the situation. Employees reportedly have until March 14 to reply to the offer.

Thousands of probationary workers, typically workers who have been on the job for under a year, in the HHS were told in February they would be fired, the outlet reported. The HHS employs over 80,000 people and oversees numerous major health agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The offer comes amid the Trump administration’s effort to cut the size of the federal workforce and decrease the government’s budget through fiscal cuts and mass layoffs. A process which has been primarily led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Over 62,000 job cuts were announced by federal agencies in February, CBS reported. (RELATED: Fed Workers ‘Kicking And Screaming’ At Trump’s Buyout Offer).

HHS sends all employees a $25,000 voluntary buyout offer.https://t.co/wwlYU3Qf4q

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 8, 2025

One week prior to the HHS offer, employees in the Social Security Administration were similarly offered $15,000 to $25,000 buyouts.

Soon after Trump took office, over two million federal workers were offered deferred resignations, allowing for them to be paid through September without needing to show up for work, CBS noted. Roughly 75,000 employees accepted the offer which has since been challenged in court.

It remains unclear how layoffs might impact the HHS and its new chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as they face several challenges including the measles outbreak that has left at least two dead and the bird flu outbreak impacting egg prices for Americans, CBS noted.