On Friday, Education Department employees received an email offering buyouts of up to $25,000 for those who apply to retire or resign by Monday, due to impending significant layoffs. However, the email soon disappeared from inboxes, raising confusion among employees, with no further guidance provided. A spokesperson for the department did not comment on the situation, while the application’s link remained accessible. The buyout offer seems legal under existing guidelines for downsizing. The email lacked details on eligibility or criteria for payment amount, which heightened uncertainty as the Trump administration pushes for extensive federal job cuts.
Employees in the Education Department received an email on Friday proposing buyouts in advance of what was characterized as “very significant” layoffs, only for that email to shortly disappear from their inboxes.
The email, sent to all department employees at 11:03 a.m., encouraged them to consider a “one-time offer” of a taxable payment of up to $25,000 if they completed an application to retire or resign by the day’s end on Monday. The email, which was reviewed by The New York Times, indicated that employees were receiving this offer before the department anticipated “a very significant reduction in force.”
However, the email seemed to have been recalled, according to three individuals who received the original notice. They reported that it simply disappeared from their inboxes.
A spokesperson for the department did not respond promptly to a request for clarification regarding the status of the offer. Several employees, who wished to remain anonymous due to job security concerns, stated they had not received any additional information or directions about next steps.
Adding to the confusion, the link to the application form for the buyout program remained active and accessible on Friday afternoon, despite the earlier retraction of the original email via the department’s email system.
The buyout offer appeared to comply with the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Authority, which permits agencies undergoing downsizing or restructuring to offer one-time payments of up to $25,000 to employees in “surplus positions or possessing skills no longer needed in the workforce.”
However, the email sent on Friday morning was labeled as an “urgent announcement” with a strict deadline for Monday, coinciding with the Trump administration’s swift actions to implement extensive job cuts throughout the federal government. This included a variety of measures, such as deferred resignation offers, layoffs of probationary employees, and prior attempts to sidestep certain employees with administrative leave.
The email also stated that the offer was available to those employees who were already planning to retire. Yet, the application form did not clarify how the separation payments would be computed or what criteria would determine the compensation for individual employees.
It was unclear whether employees in other agencies received a similar offer or what its status was.
According to the current guidelines from the Office of Personnel Management, voluntary separation programs typically require specific criteria, such as workers needing to have been employed by the executive branch for a minimum of three years. It emphasizes that the authority can be employed to “minimize or avoid involuntary separations through costly and disruptive reductions in force.”
However, Friday’s brief email to employees provided no eligibility criteria and seemed to be presented to all of the department’s staff members.
Additionally, it failed to offer any details about the “very significant reduction in force,” or which employees might face involuntary termination if they did not accept the offer.