Several federal agencies give employees another chance to resign with little time to decide

CNN

02-04-2025

At least four federal agencies are once again giving their employees the option to resign but be paid through the end of September, according to internal emails obtained by CNN and agency spokespeople.
The employees don't have long to make a decision either. Depending on the agency, some must decide by April 8 while others have until April 18.
The departments of Agriculture, Defense and Energy, as well as the General Services Administration, have reopened the controversial deferred resignation program as part of the Trump administration's effort to shrink the federal workforce. It comes as agencies are preparing large-scale reductions in force, or RIFs.
The original program was offered to about 2 million federal employees, who had to accept by mid-February. Roughly 75,000 participants signed up. Workers were notified about the initial offer in a mass email from the Office of Personnel Management with the subject line of 'Fork in the Road,' the same subject line billionaire Elon Musk used when culling employees at Twitter after he purchased it.
This time, the email offers are coming from the agencies themselves.
The USDA is offering the deferred resignation incentive to permanent and term employees, including those in probationary status, although it noted that not all positions will be eligible to participate.
The agency warned in an email to staff that it is reducing the size of the workforce; relocating employees away from the Washington, DC, metropolitan area; eliminating management layers; minimizing the office footprint; and consolidating duplicative functions. USDA employees have until April 8 to decide and must leave by the end of the month.
'At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding which positions will remain – or where they will be located – after USDA's restructuring,' said the email, which CNN has viewed.
The agency mistakenly included the personal email addresses of nearly 400 USDA probationary workers in the email informing them of the offer, which allowed the entire group to see every recipient's email address.
A USDA spokesperson confirmed the mistake in an email to CNN on Tuesday evening, adding that the message had been recalled.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday announced that the deferred resignation program is being reopened for nearly all of the agency's civilian workforce, which numbers almost 900,000.
'Exemptions should be rare,' Hegseth said in the memo he signed. 'My intent is to maximize participation so that we can minimize the number of involuntary actions that may be required to achieve the strategic objectives.'
Similarly, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told staffers in a message this week that he is instituting a deferred resignation program, 'which allows for employees to take needed time for future planning while continuing to be paid through the designated period.' They have until April 8 to decide, though certain public safety, national security, law enforcement or other essential workers may not be eligible.
Wright's message, which CNN has viewed, also warned of the coming layoffs.
'This is a difficult but necessary effort to make government more efficient and accountable,' it said.
Meanwhile, GSA employees have through April 18 to opt into the deferred resignation program, which is being offered to all eligible GSA staffers, an agency spokesperson told CNN.