Trump offers buyouts to federal workers; unclear how that affects employees located in New Mexico

The Trump administration announced Tuesday plans to downsize the federal government through buyouts, a move that could impact New Mexico’s large share of federal workers.

Those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about seven months of salary, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government’s human resources agency, that was emailed to employees. But they have to choose to do so by Feb 6, The Associated Press reported.

A jobs report sent out Tuesday by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions had a preliminary December count of 29,600 federal workers within the state. The report didn’t note specific types of federal jobs.

Cheryl Eliano, the vice president for District 10 of the American Federation of Government Employees — which represents over 90,000 federal workers across New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — didn’t immediately respond to a Journal request for comment.

The union, referred to as AFGE, represents 800,000 federal and Washington government workers across the country. But in a statement, AFGE National President Everett Kelley said, “purging the federal government of career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos” for those dependent on government services.

“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary,” Kelley said. “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.”

Officials with Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory weren’t available for comment. But it’s unlikely Trump’s offer of buyouts would affect either.

The National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, a subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., runs Sandia Labs as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, meaning its thousands of employees in the state are not technically federal workers. The same goes for LANL, which is operated by Triad National Security LLC — owned by Battelle Memorial Institute, the Texas A&M University System and the University of California.

Trump has built a political career around promising to disrupt Washington, and vowed that his second administration would go far further in shaking up traditional political norms than his first term did.

The federal government employs more than 3 million people, which makes it roughly the nation’s 15th-largest workforce. The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center of data from OPM.

In its emailed memo detailing its plan, OPM lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce going forward — including that most workers return to their offices full time.

“The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since COVID will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week,” it reads. That echoes Trump, who said of federal employees over the weekend: “You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise you’re not going to have a job.”

The memo also says Trump “will insist on excellence at every level,” and while some parts of the government’s workforce may increase under his administration, “the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized.”

Finally, it says, the ”federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”

“Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward,” the memo reads. “Employees who engage in unlawful behavior or other misconduct will be prioritized for appropriate investigation and discipline, including termination.”

The emailed message includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees wishing to participate in the buyout program.

“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,” it says.

The email even includes instructions on how to accept, stating: “If you wish to resign: Select ‘Reply’ to this email. You must reply from your government account.” It adds: “Type the word ‘Resign’ into the body of this email and hit ‘send.’”

Meanwhile, OPM has released guidance for an executive order Trump signed on the first day of his second term known as “Schedule Career/Policy.” It replaces Schedule F, an order Trump signed late in his first term that sought to reclassify thousands of federal employees and make them political appointees without the same job security protections.

President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s Schedule F order almost immediately upon taking office in 2021, and under his administration, OPM issued a new rule last year designed to make it more difficult to fire many federal employees.

That move was seen as a safeguard against using a new Schedule F order to help carry out the key goals of Project 2025, a sweeping plan by a conservative Washington think tank to dismiss large swaths of the federal workforce in favor of more conservative alternatives, while also cutting back on the overall size of government.

But that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from swiftly moving to gut the federal workforce and leave employees with little recourse to protest firings or reassignments.

Trump’s OPM on Monday set deadlines for agencies to begin to recommend workers for reclassification. Agency heads are being instructed to establish a contact person no later than Wednesday and begin to submit interim personnel recommendations within 90 days.

“Agencies are encouraged to submit recommendations on a rolling basis before this date,” Charles Ezell, the acting director of OPM, said in a memo.

Perhaps more stunning, the Trump personnel office simply did away with the Biden administration’s 2024 regulation to better protect federal workers. Monday’s memo said Trump’s new executive order used the president’s authority “to directly nullify these regulations.”

Journal Staff Writer Matthew Narvaiz contributed to this report.