The payout offer also says 'enhanced' standards will ensure that remaining federal workers are 'trustworthy.'

[Celerity]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/trump-buyouts-federal-workers.html

https://archive.ph/x1EJE

The Trump administration on Tuesday offered roughly two million federal workers the option to resign but be paid through the end of September, in an effort to drastically reduce the size of the federal work force and push out people who do not support President Trump’s political agenda.

In an email, the Office of Personnel Management, an agency that oversees the federal civilian work force, gave employees the option to leave their positions by typing the word “resign” into the subject line of an email and hitting send. Workers have until Feb. 6 to accept the offer.

The email, with the subject line “Fork in the Road,” said that the majority of federal agencies would probably be downsized and that a substantial number of employees would be furloughed or reclassified to “at-will status” — essentially making them easier to fire. Most people who have been working remotely will be required to work from their office five days a week, the email said, and some physical offices will be consolidated, causing some people to be relocated.

The email also said that “enhanced standards of conduct” would be applied to ensure that workers were “reliable, loyal, trustworthy” and that those who “engage in unlawful behavior or other misconduct will be prioritized for appropriate investigation and discipline, including termination.” It also said performance standards would be updated to reward those who “exceed expectations.”

snip

[Mountainguy]

1. Paid through the end of February?

I wouldn't have been out the door before they "Fuck You" made it out of my mouth.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. Paid through

the end of September 2025.

[Mountainguy]

7. Yeah that's what i meant

But February is what came out.

[Celerity]

4. 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). The details of this separation plan can be found below.

https://www.opm.gov/fork

That said, zero chance I would ever trust Trump to honour that agreement.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

2. The performance standards part

cracks me up…every agency has their own appraisal system, which is managed by their own HR system, and objectives/goals are set and measured differently in each agency. It would take years, if not decades, to have a single set of performance standards.

[BOSSHOG]

5. Federal employees have been trustworthy for centuries

Aiding and abetting a president in criminal activity is not being trustworthy. A politicians agenda is theirs not necessarily that of federal employees and certainly not to be acted upon in the workplace. It’s really quite simple.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. What makes Trump think that Trumpers won't take this offer?

[haele]

8. It's a scam. There's no money allocated to pay severance to employees who quit

This is just what Musk did when he took over Twitter, paying an extra severance; only the first 20% got paid their severance. He closed the offer and stiffed the rest once the resignation notices started flooding in as the weeks went on and he started fucking things up.
As for the Feds, an employee either resigns and leaves with only everything owed up to two weeks out or retires, and it takes 3 -6 months to complete the retirement process.
If they're expecting anywhere from 6000 - or 60k - to resign with 7 months severance, the amount of money that much severance needs congressional approval.
Figure an average base hourly rate for, say, a 10 year GS 12 at around $41 an hour x 160 hours (the standard month) x 7 and you get a severance package of $45,920.
5000 across the Government decide to take the "offer". That ends up with the expected average estimate of around $229,600,000...around $300 million. That's pretty much the average point, but chances are, you're going to be seeing the GS 13's through 15's with 20 years quit; people whose base is closer to $50 or $60 an hour. So it's probably closer to almost half a billion put aside for severance, plus whatever accrued leave they have.

That sort of money takes Congressional approval.
And I don't see the Tax Cut at all costs "Freedom Caucus" putting up with spending that much money on "quitters".

[AZJonnie]

9. Totally correct!!!

It's probably also a setup to make Congress 'the fall guy'. When the retiring folks money is cut off after 1 check, it's "Oops, sorry Congress said 'No', Bummer!"

[SickOfTheOnePct]

11. I think the whole thing is BS

But it wouldn’t be severance, it would be admin leave, which doesn’t need a separate appropriation.

The government wouldn’t be saving any money up through the end of FY25, the savings would come starting in FY26 when those positions and the associated billets are eliminated.

[Strelnikov_]

13. Not severance

If they agree to resign not later than Sept, the RTO is waived.

[Norrrm]

10. Trustworthy... meaning loyal to Trump, above the country.

[sakabatou]

12. By trusty, they mean ass-kissers