The controversial plan of Trump’s “deferred resignation” faces a meticulous examination

Federal employees across the country received an email on Monday morning which concerns labor defenders and legislators: a directive of the Trump Administration Management Bureau (OPM) describing a “delayed resignation program” which Offers workers for remuneration and benefits guaranteed until September 30 – months beyond the current government financing date.

Legal experts, state -of -the -art prosecutors and labor organizations warn that the administration’s decision is not only legally questionable but downright illegal. He violates the anti-cancer law, which prohibits the government from spending money that Congress has not authorized.

GOP officials recognize that the buyout program is illegal

While the Republicans of Congress have remained largely silent, GOP officials admit privately that the Trump administration’s offer to pay federal employees beyond the government’s financing deadline in mid-March violates the Federal law.

“This is a pure and simple violation of federal law,” a republican official told CBS News. “Anyone else would have come out of an agency to go $ 1 beyond the appropriate dollars. Mathematics behind Napine on this offer – paying all federal employees for 6.5 months beyond current credits – amount to around 50 billion dollars. Even if only a fraction accepts, the obligation is always undertaken. »»

Despite these warnings, there are little expecting that the Republicans of the Congress question the administration’s decision, leaving the legality of the program in the limbo.

The prosecutors general of the States warn federal employees to avoid the program

Maryland prosecutor General Anthony Brown joined 11 other states to warn federal employees against the Trump administration proposal, calling for an attack on government’s ability to serve the public.

“The terms of this vague ‘delayed resignation’ wave, have put federal employees in an ambiguous position and risk forcing the essential government resources on which the people of the State and the country count to live a complete healthy life” said Brown said in a statement on Monday.

The unions representing federal workers also condemned this decision, warning that it is nothing more than an attempt to dismantle the public service under the cover of cost reduction.

“The number of civil servants has not changed significantly since 1970, but more Americans than ever on government services,” said the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). “The purge of the federal government of dedicated career officials will have vast involuntary consequences that will cause chaos for Americans who depend on a functional federal government.”

The delayed resignation offer: a legal and logistical mess

The latest OPM email, entitled “Fork in the road”, is the third communication sent to federal employees concerning the resignation plan.

The message, according to CBS News, reads as follows:

“Q: the current funding invoice of the federal government expires on March 14. Will I always receive remuneration and benefits if the money is exhausted?

A: Any government closure could potentially affect the remuneration of an employee, that it has accepted the delayed resignation offer. In addition, if you accept the delayed resignation offer, you would still be entitled to a sacred under the law on the treatment of government employees. »»

Legal experts have stressed that the law on administrative holidays allows agencies to place employees the 10 days of work on paid leave during a calendar year – far from the eight months of paid leave that OPM now offers under the Directive of the Trump administration.

“This email is another poorly motivated effort to bring as many federal employees to leave as soon as possible,” said Peter Jenkins, principal lawyer for public employees for environmental responsibility (PEER).

“OPM does not have the legal power to reliably claim that the Trump administration will put all those who leave in the next eight days on administrative leave paid in the next eight months.”

According to PER’s analysis, the OPM website explicitly indicates that the maximum incentive for voluntary resignations is capped at $ 25,000 – a contrast that struck with the compensation of several months that the administration promises.

In addition, the executive director of peers, Tim Whitehouse, said that federal employees should be extremely skeptical about the buyout.

“The country needs a strong public service to help respond to these threats, which this administration seems determined to destroy,” Whitehouse told NPR. “Federal employees should be very skeptical about the acceptance of this offer.”

History shows that redemptions cause higher costs and labor instability

The redemptions and discounts of the workforce have already been tried, with disastrous consequences.

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on similar redemptions during the Clinton administration in the 1990s revealed that many agencies granted redemptions without clear strategy, resulting in a loss of institutional knowledge and forcing the government to hire Many of the same employees than higher than more -paying paid.

Experts warn that the effects of this time could be even worse, in particular given the efforts of the Trump administration to put the touch of federal employees working in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and roles environmental justice.

“In a cruel turn, the administration has arbitrarily sidelined the government employees who work on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and environmental justice,” said Peer. These employees, who have already been put on administrative leave and have denied access to their emails, cannot even respond to this offer.

Despite the statements of the administration according to which the buyout will save money, economists say it is unlikely that it will issue the promised results.

“The government spends about $ 350 billion a year on federal employees – only 5% of the total budget – but this administration is determined to empty the public service as if it were an inflated bureaucracy,” said Josh Bivens, chief economist of the Economic Policy Institute, in an interview with CBS News.

The widespread spinoffs are looming as the deadline for buyout approaches

With the deadline of February 6 approaching quickly, the country’s federal workers are forced to decide to accept an offer that could leave them without legal recourse if the administration does not hold its promises.

Meanwhile, the Congress Republicans remain silent, despite the growing concerns of legal experts, state representatives and workers.

According to Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for the Public Service, many of these federal workers are veterans and professionals who have devoted their lives to the service of the country.

“Most people do not understand that many people in the army enter the public service because they want to continue serving,” Stier told NPR.