ATLANTA — The deadline for federal employees to accept an offer to buyout their employment and be paid through September without having to work has arrived.
On Jan. 28, federal employees were sent an email offering what’s known as “deferred resignation” in a push by President Donald Trump and his allies in Washington to trim down the size of the federal government.
As described by officials in Washington, and delivered by email to federal employees, accepting the buyout is available until Feb. 6.
Channel 2′s Bryan Mims is working to learn how this may affect Georgia workers, LIVE on Channel 2 Action News at Noon.
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“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program,” and is available to every federal employee. “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 Sept. 30, 2025.”
However, federal worker unions and Democratic Party members say there’s a possibility that workers who accept the buyout could end up not being paid.
“It’s a scam and not a buyout,” Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told the Associated Press.
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Further reporting by the AP said Democratic lawmakers are warning employees that the deferred resignation program because it wasn’t authorized by Congress, raising the risk that employees who do take the buyout won’t get paid.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 3,010,000 people were employed by the federal government as of December 2024, though that number is preliminary. , the most recent data available on its site. Not counting employees of the U.S. Postal Service, 2.41 million people had federal jobs.
BLS reported 598,500 employees worked for the USPS in December 2024.
The U.S. government counts military personnel in a separate category, so the 3.01 million federal employees are civilians.
For those who choose to take the buyout, not only will they receive their full pay and benefits, they’ll also be able to earn sick leave and annual leave.
“You will also continue to accrue annual leave and sick leave during the deferred resignation period until you separate. You will be paid a lump sum for accrued but unused annual leave upon separation,” according to the Office of Personnel Management.
OPM reported that in March, the average length of time Georgia federal employees had worked for the government was just under 12 years and they had an average earning per year of $98,400.
According to the Georgia Department of Labor, there were more than 115,000 federal employees in the state, and about 57,900 in the metro Atlanta area.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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