Dear NAAE,
By now, you have probably seen an email from the USDA secretary’s office and a follow up HR email with some FAQs about the ‘deferred resignation’ option. We want to be clear, Nothing has changed about the details of the offer, which currently has no guarantees. The chances of you not being fully paid for eight months if you take the offer are very real. The legality of the offer itself remains in question, the funding source for the offer is nonexistent, and the guidance provided by the OPM is vague at best. Do not take this offer unless you are 100% confident that the Administration will keep its word. As you may know, Twitter employees got a similar severance offer a few years ago and were not fully paid the severance they thought they were getting. Many of their workers who took the offer regretted it, and they ended up taking legal action against the company. The legal action was ultimately unsuccessful. The terms of this offer to federal workers is eerily similar to the offer that was made to Twitter workers.
Some of you may be nearing retirement and are seriously considering this offer. Please note that ‘deferred resignation’ is not the same as a ‘retirement’. If you choose to resign from your position, you may be forfeiting future retirement benefits, including your hard earned health benefits. There are unconfirmed rumors that employees may be offered Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA), but the language of this offer remains unclear and there is no written guarantee at this time. We don’t even know the full implications of this ‘deferred resignation’ offer, and there is no historical context for this unprecedented action. We don’t even know for sure who is eligible for this offer. Again, please be very careful if you are considering this offer. See the code of federal regulations for more information about resignation from federal service.
In Solidarity,
The NAAE Executive Committee