Buyouts Offered at HHS; DOD Starts Firings as Large-Scale Layoff Plans Due

Federal agencies are continuing to ramp up job cuts in the interim, as agencies get ready to implement large-scale reductions in force (RIF), with plans for RIFs due by Thursday, March 13.

Below is a roundup of what some agencies are doing:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is offering $25,000 to employees who resign.

The voluntary resignation offer is in effect for most of the Department’s 80,000 employees who received an email offering a "voluntary separation incentive payment.” Employees have until Friday March 14, 2025, to respond. 

HHS oversees numerous agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

“If you’ve been involved in good science, you have got nothing to worry about,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to Fox News. “If you care about public health, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If you’re in there working for the pharmaceutical industry, then I’d say you should move out and work for the pharmaceutical industry.”

Pentagon Starts Terminations

The Department of Defense placed some probationary employees on administrative leave while preparing for their official terminations.

According to Stars and Stripes, probationary workers at the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the Navy, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) became the first probationary DOD workers to be told they will be fired. The workers were placed on leave until the formal firings later this month.

DLA confirmed that about 100 workers were dismissed. 

Federal News Network reports that about 20 civilian employees at DHA were fired.

Earlier, DOD indicated that it was preparing to fire about 5,400 probationary workers, as part of an overall five to eight percent cut in the civilian workforce. The cuts will reportedly come in waves.

GSA Early Retirement

The General Services Administration (GSA) received approval from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) to all eligible employees “including those impacted by the RIF.”

GSA is also asking OPM to offer up to $25,000 in payments for employees who resign. 

“I encourage each of you to consider your options as we move forward,” said acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian. “The new GSA will be slimmer, more efficient and laser-focused on efficiency and high-value outcomes.”

NOAA Layoffs

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) was told to cut another 1,000 workers. This after 1,300 workers were already purged this year. 

According to the New York Times, NOAA managers were told to draw up plans for layoffs and reorganization. Combined, the cuts would amount to about 20 percent of the NOAA workforce.

Agencies Have Last Word

Meanwhile the Trump Administration rescinded guidance on probationary firings, saying that agencies and not the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), hold final say on whether an employee stays or goes. 

The revised guidance comes days after a federal judge ordered OPM to rescind its earlier instructions telling other federal agencies to "promptly determine" whether probationary employees "should be retained at the agency."

“It has always been up to agencies whether to take performance-based actions against probationary employees,” an OPM spokesperson told Federal News Network.

Meanwhile, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) reported a 2,100 percent increase in cases from employees appealing their dismissals. Some of the employees are disputing poor performance, while others allege prohibited personnel practices.