The move is the latest action in a jarring broadside against America’s foreign aid architecture that has followed President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

If you are a federal employee who has received the Fork in the Road email offering the option of voluntarily resigning from your position in exchange for eight months of pay, the offer may sound tempting. The OPM says the reason why federal workers are being offered deferred resignation is because the federal workforce will “undergo significant near-term changes” and as a results of those changes some employees may “wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your future — and have a nice vacation.” While the program is pitched as taking a nice vacation, legal experts say the communication from the Office of Personnel Management is vague and misleading, and that federal employees should only consult with their human resources personnel, agency benefits personnel, legal counsel and their financial advisors before making any final decisions and to ensure they fully understand the implications of their resignation.  “A “one-size-fits-all” email from OPM does not take into account individual circumstances and should not be read to provide a guarantee as to your rights and pay,” the Alden Law Group said in a blog post.  And the OPM website about what employees will and won’t get if they choose to resign does not carry any legal weight, says Michelle Bercovici, a partner at Alden Law Group. “I would not count on this FAQ that’s on the website. It’s not a published guidance document. It’s not part of the email that went out to employees. These FAQs don’t seem to be supported by any specific regulatory or statutory authority.  I would not at all consider the FAQs to be binding terms of sort of agreement. And quite frankly, I don’t believe that OPM has the legal authority to actually guarantee that these employees will be kept in this sort of pay, non-duty status,” Bercovici told Federal News Network. Overall, an agreement to resign from federal service is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly, experts say, and the decision to resign should only be made after fully understanding the implications regarding pension, health insurance, retirement eligibility, service tenure requirements, etc., especially given that the decision to resign is most likely irrevocable.  “OPM’s email and guidance makes clear that agencies are likely to refuse employee requests to withdraw a resignation under the deferred resignation program,” said the Alden Law Group. Before resigning, federal workers should explore alternative paths, whether it’s retirement, reassignment, transfers, or Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments, known as buyout authority which allows agencies that are downsizing or restructuring to offer financial incentives to leave federal service voluntarily. “The decision to resign should be truly voluntary, not made under pressure or without fully understanding the options. However, employees must decide in a high-pressure situation given this February 6th deadline,” Timothy Dowers, an associate attorney at John H. Haskin & Associates, told Federal News Network.  And while OPM said that resignation under this program does not affect future federal employment, federal workers should verify whether they will retain competitive status or reinstatement rights. Lastly and more importantly, Shauna Weatherly, the president of Federal Subcontract Solutions LLC, encouraged federal employees to not act out of fear.  “I would caution anyone who wants to take this just because you’re afraid you might be fired, to keep in mind that federal employees do have protections. They have constitutional and statutory rights, in most cases, to advance notice and an opportunity to respond to disciplinary and adverse actions. There are rights and procedures that agencies are supposed to follow through the reduction in force, and those procedures are in place. So there are some protections there, and making a decision based solely on this letter is a very big risk,” said Bercovici. And here are some questions to consider before replying “Resign” to the Fork in the Road email:   How will resigning impact my retirement benefits? After September 30, 2025, how will my FERS/CSRS pension, annuity eligibility, and TSP contributions be impacted? If I have already submitted my retirement paperwork, can I withdraw my request and choose to retire at the end of the resignation period instead? Would early or regular retirement be a better option than resigning? What is the cutoff date for my health, vision, and dental insurance benefits? How does participating in this program impact my ability to work for the federal government in the future? Will I continue to accrue annual leave and sick leave? When will I receive my annual leave payout? What happens to unused sick leave? Can I negotiate different exit terms? What legal rights do I forfeit by voluntarily resigning? How do I outprocess? In addition, Weatherly advised federal employees to keep a full copy of their electronic Official Personnel File on a non-work device, have a copy of current position description, have the latest copy of their Standard Form 50 with all blocks completed and to document all communications from government officials that entail any change of status of their employment to include change in their employment authority, their position, their duties, their pay, their duty station, and their benefits. “Understand that there is a distinct difference between resign and retire. Ask questions and research answers from reputable federal labor attorneys and publications. Most of all, don’t react out of fear. Educate yourself,” said Weatherly.The post Questions federal employees should be asking before accepting ‘deferred resignation’ first appeared on Federal News Network.

In more than 30 years covering the federal government, I’ve never seen anything quite like the Fork in the Road memo. Agency reductions-in-force (RIFs) usually involve discrete agencies or programs, limited to specific employees who are typically offered a $25,000 buyout payment. The Fork memo seems to offer you a chance to work from home for eight months, then leave. But there’s a catch. The memo also states: “I understand my employing agency will likely make adjustments in response to my resignation including moving, eliminating, consolidating, reassigning my position and tasks, reducing my official duties, and/or placing me on paid administrative leave until my resignation date.” Translation: Go ahead and reply “Resign,” but don’t sit around waiting for invitations to Teams meetings. As with traditional RIFs, the Fork comes with a warning you could lose your job anyway. It says “…the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force. These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.” At that point, should your job get rubbed out, you’d get a “dignified” departure but no showing of the green. Everyone’s asking, well, how many people will go? The White House has publicly estimated 5% to 10% of the federal civilian workforce — up to 200,000 people, in other words. Presuming that’s the case, who specifically might leave? The answer shows the problem of all widely-offered buyouts, or more precisely, deferred resignation. Namely, that the wrong people leave. For example, all of those cybersecurity and artificial intelligence people so painstakingly acquired by the government over the past few years. They are highly mobile. Industry would grab them up in a second. Also federal lawyers. Many of them can easily go to that better-paying law firm job sooner. But what about, say, program managers, a highly specific skill in the federal government? I spoke to a program manager today who runs a research effort, the results of which will make life easier for tens of millions of Americans, irrespective of age, health, economic status or any other condition. It’s important work and it has no political content. He said, “I love my work. I’ve done it for 20 years. I was hoping to ride off into the sunset doing this.” He got the Fork email but hasn’t decided what to do. The problem with this approach, aside from whether it ultimately proves legal, is that with random and unpredictable numbers of departures, too many people could end up staying in troubled and inefficient programs and agencies. Too many people could leave high performing programs. In truth, no one has the faintest idea how many federal employees will send “resign” back from their .gov and .mil email accounts. But, man, the whole town is talking about it. The unions, good-government and employee-representing groups are taking universal umbrage. Employees themselves are calculating their TSP balances, their years towards retirement, and whether they can in fact retire and keep federal health care insurance plans. And, from those I’ve spoken with, they’re working through the turbulence. If the Trump administration intended the Fork program to create fear, uncertainty and doubt, it’s already succeeded.The post Trump administration to federal workforce: Fork you! first appeared on Federal News Network.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least 56 senior officials in the top U.S. aid and development agency were placed on leave Monday amid an investigation into an alleged effort to thwart President Donald Trump’s orders. A current official and a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development confirmed the reason given for the move Monday. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. Several hundred contractors based in Washington and elsewhere also were laid off, the officials said. It follows Trump’s executive order last week that directed a sweeping 90-day pause on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department. As a result of the freeze, thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide had stopped work or were preparing to do so. Without funds to pay staff, aid organizations were laying off hundreds of employees. An internal USAID notice sent late Monday and obtained by The Associated Press said new acting administrator Jason Gray had identified “several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.” “As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,” Gray wrote. Trump has signed many executive orders since taking office a week ago, but the notice did not say which orders the employees were suspected of violating. The senior agency officials put on leave were experienced employees who had served in multiple administrations, including Trump’s, the former USAID official said. Before those officials were removed from the job Monday, they were scrambling to help U.S.-funded aid organizations cope with the new funding freeze and seek waivers to continue life-saving activities, from getting clean water to war-displaced people in Sudan to continuing to monitor for bird flu globally, the former official said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has specifically exempted only emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance. The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers, many of them skeptical of the need for foreign aid and eager to see other countries pay more, say they will review each foreign assistance program to determine whether it is directly in U.S. interests and eliminate those that are deemed wasteful or liberal social engineering. Politico first reported the USAID officials being put on leave.The post US places dozens of senior aid officials on leave, citing possible resistance to Trump orders first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Trump administration is looking further scale down the size of the federal workforce by giving federal employees governmentwide the option to voluntarily resign from their positions in exchange for eight months of pay. In an email the Office of Personnel Management sent out to all federal employees Tuesday evening, the Trump administration offered most of the 2.2 million employees in the career federal workforce the option of resigning from their roles in what it called a “deferred resignation program.” Employees who choose to resign from their roles have to let OPM know of their decision by Feb. 6, according to the email, obtained by Federal News Network. The employees would be placed on paid administrative leave until the effective date of their resignation, which OPM said should be no later than Sept. 30. The email included a template message employees can use to inform OPM of their decision, if they plan to leave federal service in response to the administration’s offer. The news was first reported by Axios. “If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people,” the email states. The Trump administration said the resignation option is available to most federal employees across government, except for military personnel, U.S. Postal Service employees, those working in immigration or national security positions, and “those in any other positions specifically excluded by your employing agency.” Its unclear how the mass offer for voluntary resignations would work in practice. The federal government offers voluntary separation incentive payments, but there appears to be no precedent in the federal government of a “deferred resignation program.” The mass email comes after OPM tested a governmentwide communications system last week. A group of federal employees has since filed a lawsuit regarding the messaging system. OPM also outlined four pillars for what it said the Trump administration plans to use as the central points for its efforts to overhaul the federal workforce: returning to the office, performance culture, a more streamlined and flexible workforce, and enhanced standards of conduct. The pillars align with many of President Donald Trump’s executive actions involving the federal workforce so far, including a return-to-office directive, a federal hiring freeze and an effort to remove civil service protections from certain career federal employees. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency,” the email states. OPM declined to comment further on the email and guidance sent Tuesday evening. The American Federation of Government Employees quickly responded to the news of the mass email from OPM offering resignations. “The number of civil servants hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government. This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.” In a subsequent OPM memo regarding the resignations, OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell additionally asked agencies to submit lists of the number of federal employees who ultimately choose to resign or who are applying for early or normal retirement, as well as any employees who later choose to rescind their resignations.The post Trump administration offers most feds ‘deferred resignation’ if they agree to quit by next week first appeared on Federal News Network.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's philanthropy and other U.S. funders said on Thursday they will cover U.S. financial obligations to the UN climate framework after President Donald Trump called for the U.S. to withdraw - for a second time - from the Paris climate agreement.