Over 40,000 federal workers have taken the Trump administration’s buyout option — meaning they chose to leave their post and receive roughly eight months of salary and benefits — according to recent reports.
The option, offered as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort of slashing government waste, was posed to end on Thursday, February 6, but according to Forbes, “A federal judge in Massachusetts pushed back the deadline for employees to accept the offer, initially set for 11:59 p.m. Thursday, until at least Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by federal workers unions that argued the administration could not guarantee pay beyond the March 14 expiration date for the existing budget.”
Regardless, the number of federal employees opting for that route has increased by the thousands over the last few days, as it was reported at the beginning of the week that 20,000 had accepted that offer.
Now, reports indicate that the number of federal employees opting for the buyout option exceeds 40,000. NBC News, citing a “source familiar with the plans,” added that the number is “growing” as well:
The person said the Office of Personnel Management doesn’t plan to release deferred resignation numbers until after tomorrow’s 11:59 p.m. ET deadline for workers to take the offer.
A White House official confirmed the figure.
The news follows the Office of Personnel Management sending out a memo to roughly 2 million federal employees in January, offering them the choice of returning to work in person with “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” or leaving their post voluntarily with pay and benefits for eight months. However, they were also warned in the memo that, if they choose to stay, there will still be risk of elimination, as they plan to downsize “through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force.”
“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 September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason),” the memo reads in part.
The news comes as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its head, Elon Musk, work to downsize the size of government, boasting of wins for American taxpayers, already saving over $1 billion alone via the termination of federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) contracts.