OPM presents federal workers with ‘deferred resignation offer’

The Trump administration said it is offering “deferred resignation” options to federal employees who agree to leave their positions within seven business days, the latest in a series of actions aimed at slashing the government’s workforce.

In an email that the Office of Personnel Management said was sent to federal employees Tuesday, the White House presented government workers with a “deferred resignation offer.” Federal workers who accept that offer by Feb. 6 “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),” the message posted on OPM’s website said.

The OPM page, titled “Fork in the Road,” echoes Elon Musk’s pre-downsizing email to Twitter employees shortly after he bought the company, and also appears to be a reference to an art piece that he commissioned over two years ago. The tech billionaire and head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort has consistently railed against the federal workforce over the past several months. He also co-wrote an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal that floated the possibility of “incentives for early retirement” and “voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit.”

The legality and applicability of the White House’s offer to all federal employees appears unclear: A description of the federal government’s Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Authority posted on OPM’s website notes that buyout authority permits agencies “that are downsizing or restructuring to offer employees lump-sum payments up to $25,000 as an incentive to voluntarily separate.” 

Additionally, the federal government is currently operating in a continuing resolution for fiscal 2025 with a March 14 deadline for Congress to fund the government. Because of that, agency appropriations for the remainder of the year are still in flux.

OPM said in its email that “significant” reform is coming to the federal workforce, noting the directives President Donald Trump issued during his first week back in the White House — including a return to in-office work and the supposed “restoring” of merit-based hiring. 

That reform, OPM said, will be built around four pillars: 

• Return to the office, with most workers expected to report to their physical offices five days a week; 
• More streamlined and flexible workforce, which OPM said will likely include downsizing, furloughs and reclassifications for “a substantial number of federal employees”; 
• Enhanced standards of conduct, where workers “will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct”; 
• Performance culture, which OPM said will “reward and promote those that exceed expectations and address in a fair and open way those who do not meet the high standards which the taxpayers of this country have a right to demand.”

In an FAQ posted Tuesday, Charles Ezell, OPM’s acting director, said the deferred resignation offer is available to all federal employees other than those serving in the military, the U.S. Postal Service, in positions connected to immigration enforcement and national security, and “any other positions specifically excluded” by a worker’s employing agency.

For federal workers who elect to stay in their current roles, OPM leaves the door open for dismissals down the road.

“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 said.

An OPM fact sheet notes that for federal workers to be eligible for severance pay, they “must be serving under a qualifying appointment, have a regularly scheduled tour of duty, have completed at least 12 months of continuous service, and be removed from Federal service by involuntary separation for reasons other than inefficiency (i.e., unacceptable performance or conduct).”

Max Stier, president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service, said in an email that “the Trump administration’s recent efforts to encourage the bulk of the federal workforce to resign are perplexing, of questionable legality and dangerous.”

“Americans rely on federal workers to fly safely, help veterans and seniors access their benefits, keep our food and water safe, protect public health, respond to natural disasters, and maintain the rule of law,” Stier continued. “Stripping away expert talent through such a non-strategic approach puts all of us at risk in a profound way.”

This story was updated Jan. 29, 2025, with links to an OPM FAQ on the policy and an OPM fact sheet on severance pay, quotes from Max Stier, and adjusted wording to hew more closely to the language in the OPM memo.