Will federal employees get severance pay if they resign? Trump administration offers buyout program

On January 28, 2025, the Trump administration used its new communication system to send a mass email to over 2 million federal employees offering a buyout.

The email, publicly released by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), presents the federal workers with a proposal to resign and get paid until September 30, 2025. The severance package with "full government pay and benefits" has been offered to all federal employees except a few departments. However, the employees must reply by February 6, 2025, to accept the offer.

The military personnel, U.S. Postal Service employees, and those working for immigration enforcement and national security are not eligible for the deferred resignation. Besides the above-mentioned agencies and branches, certain positions excluded by federal agencies are also Ineligible for the buyout program.

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Trump administration’s buyout program is a part of its significant overhaul of the federal workforce

The 47th President has already signed multiple executive orders and issued memos implementing changes around the federal workforce. The latest ‘deferred resignation’ email focuses on reducing the number of federal employees across most of the agencies. The mass email from the Trump administration starts by mentioning the recent RTO mandate,

“During the first week of his administration, President Trump issued a number of directives concerning the federal workforce. Among those directives, the President required that employees return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees who have policy-making authority, restored accountability for senior career executives, and reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit. As a result of the above orders, the reform of the federal workforce will be significant.”

The email further talks about the encouragement of “return to office,” “performance culture,” and “enhanced standards of conduct.” At the same time, the message also mentions a “more streamlined and flexible workforce” as the fourth pillar of a reformed federal workforce. It indicates an increase in military personnel and downsizing of other federal staff.

According to OPM, the program also focuses on allowing federal employees to resign while receiving “sufficient time and economic security” for planning their future. Workers choosing to resign between January 28 and February 6 will not be expected to work unless their federal agency decides so (in a rare scenario).

The message from the administration concludes,

“This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. 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, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason).”

Those who wish to accept the deferred resignation offer must reply to the email with “Resign” and hit send.

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The buyout program for federal employees draws criticism from AFGE

The federal employee buyout program has also received opposition from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). The union's president, Everett Kelley, issued a statement highlighting the issues with the program. He said,

“The number of civil servants hasn't meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services. Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government.”

He further concluded,

“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.”

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Trump’s ‘Fork in the Road’ message resembles Elon Musk’s email before Twitter’s 2022 layoffs

Coincidently, the program has drawn a comparison with Elon Musk’s email from 2022, which he sent to then-Twitter employees. From the body of the email to its title, “Fork in the Road,” the Trump administration’s new step bears a resemblance to the layoffs that happened after Musk’s takeover of X.

Although Musk is an administrator of the US Government's DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), the email doesn’t mention him. The message solely addresses federal employees while stressing the presidential actions taken by the White House during the first week of Trump’s second term.

After the email went public, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement,

"American taxpayers pay for the salaries of federal government employees, and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers.”

She added,

“If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months."

While February 6 will be the last date to accept the offer, federal employees who are on an approved absence from January 27 to the deadline will get to request an extension. OPM also states that any resigned employees can again apply to work for the federal government in the future.