One might think at first that this was heartening news:
More than 65,000 federal workers have reportedly accepted the Trump administration’s buyout offer.
However:
“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 sent in January to roughly 2 million federal employees reads.
So: 65,000 down, leaving 1,935,000 still to go. And:
A federal judge is expected to weigh in on the matter Monday.
A federal judge in Massachusetts. The People’s Soviet of Massachusetts. Any prizes for guessing how that will turn out?
Gah. Still, I guess we should take heart in the 65,000 number — it’s better than nothing.
As long as Trump and Musk keep applying the screws…
65k is a good start but I wish their pensions and such would be cut or they are made to wait until they are 65 to collect it
Their pension benefits are outrageous. They are calculated based on best salary (including overtime) x years of employment x 2.5%. 2.5%!!
The multiplier originated for military, police and firefighters, people whose career durations are limited by danger and physical requirements, but the desk drones managed to get it applied to them.
Start at age 18, retire at age 58, 2.5%x40 = 100% salary. If he lives to age 78, he draws 100% salary + COLA!!! For twenty years of doing nothing. A woman in my family did just that, and after forty years as a glorified clerk at Social Security, her pension after years of COLA is now $165,000. Her health benefits are fabulous, and while working she accrued sick days, vacation days, and had a generous government equivalent of a 401k.
It used to be government employees traded a lower wage than the private sector for benefits and job security, but now government jobs are paying better than their equivalents in the private sector, yet they keep all the fringe benefits.
I retired in 98, and my pension multiplier was half – 1.25% – capped at 35% of salary with no COLA. My pension is to the penny what it was in 1998. I’m not complaining about mine, as it was generous compared to many private companies, but the Fed program is outrageous and unaffordable. This has to end.
And that is how you keep people in line. Who’s going to be a whistle blower and risk that kind of retirement? Nope, fall in line, do what you’re told, goof off as much as possible, vote democrat and rake in the bucks. They all need to be tossed out, two weeks pay only, and all benefits frozen.
It is a stupid way to do it, the same as when private companies cut heads similarly. All you are doing is getting rid of people who are competent enough to go get other jobs. It just reduces the average competency of those who are left.
Pick the low performers and redundant and tell them to leave is the right way.
I have to ask how many of those 65,000 were already near retirement and would have been gone in the next couple of years anyhow, and see this as a bonus.
The drones should be driven out first, but the government employees union would never allow that. That has to change, because we taxpayers don’t get a seat at the bargaining table. Government unions should be outlawed.
LOL, every time the company downsized, we’d sit around and say the same thing. Then slowly realize that we fucking stayed behind. Doesn’t say much about us.
Since Donald Trump has resumed office, I have made a point of looking up just who appointed these obstructionist judges. One was appointed by Bill Clinton. Possibly one was appointed by Joe Biden. The others (I think there are five more), were appointed by Barak Obama. I will let you draw your own conclusions, but I think it’s clear just who is running the “shadow” government in Washington D, C.
The 30SEP25 date is the end of the fiscal year, so the 65,000 who leave won’t incur any additional costs, because their pay and benefits were already budgeted and the money counted and spent.
The savings comes in with them not being able to spend the next six months performing financial hi-jinks/shenanigans/sabotage.
So what if we’re paying them to do nothing? Money well spent, I say.
just because they resign early does not protect them from legal action