Federal layoffs, buyouts, and the rule of law

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Now, from department shutdowns to federal worker buyouts.

On January 28th, President Trump made an appeal to more than two million federal employees: resign and still be paid through September. The administration says that about 60,000 workers have taken him up on the offer so far.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Late last week a federal judge blocked the plan after labor unions representing federal employees filed for an injunction. But yesterday that judge said that the resignation program for federal workers could proceed—ruling that the unions did not have proper standing.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy reported this story, but is still under the weather, so here’s Paul Butler with her report.

PAUL BUTLER: This week, President Donald Trump told reporters that his federal employee buyout plan has two goals. First:

DONALD TRUMP: What we're trying to do is reduce government. We have too many people.

And second, to encourage workers to return to the office.

TRUMP: We have office space. It's occupied by 4%. Nobody's showing up to work because they were told not to.

Those who don’t return may find their employment terminated.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since 2020, the number of federal employees has increased from 2.8 million to over 3 million. For years, job reports have been bolstered by the number of new government hires across the board. Since the 1950s, the federal government has grown by about a third, though the U.S. population more than doubled during that same time.

President Trump says he has a mandate to significantly reduce the federal workforce. Over the past few weeks, he’s shut down USAID, asked people in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and with roles in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion not to come to work, and he signed an executive order limiting federal hiring.

TRUMP: They're getting a good deal. They’re getting a big buyout.

But not everyone agrees they’re getting a good deal.

DOREEN GREENWOOD: They're being asked to sign an agreement that is unclear, does not provide any guidance for them, and there's no guarantees for it.

Doreen Greenwood is the National Treasury Employees Union President—representing many federal employees.

She’s encouraging workers to decline the offer among her reasons? Well, there’s been very little guidance about what will happen to the services the employees provide.

GREENWOOD: Nobody has taken the work away. Nobody has said what will happen to the services that the American people depend on.

She also believes that the White House is sending mixed messages. For instance, IRS employees got a letter last week after the initial buyout offer saying their resignation terms wouldn’t kick in until after the 2025 tax filing season indicating that perhaps the IRS agents in question provide a critical service and should stick around.

Now, there’s always turnover and realigned priorities with a new administration, but does it usually affect this many people?

NICOLE ANSLOVER: This approach of, you know, tons of firings within a very short span is-is not typical.

Nicole Anslover is a professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. She specializes in the modern presidency.

ANSLOVER: Even for agencies that have been ordered to pause their work, that also certainly has happened in the past. But again, that's after months of study, months of getting feedback from Congress and all of those sorts of things.

The White House is doing more than offering buyouts, they’re also shutting down whole departments and cutting federal employees from both sides of the aisle.

Anslover says the FBI, the Treasury Department, and the Justice Department usually have some change in personnel and staffing. But there’s normally a longer transition period and feedback from Congress.

ANSLOVER: What we're hearing out of President Trump's second term is that people are getting emails that say you are fired effectively immediately, and that's very not typical.

The president usually appoints about 4,000 people, 1,200 of which have to be confirmed by the Senate. Most of those are top and mid-level employees. Positions changed out almost every administration.

Then there are the lower-level employees. They’re usually regarded as apolitical and as such, are protected by law.

TODD SCHAEFER: They are protected from firing and so on, in order to better administer what the government does.

Todd Shaefer is a professor of political science at Central Washington University.

SCHAEFER: They're supposed to be hired, not for political reasons, but because they know things.

Trump’s plan to buyout these lower-level workers may be a way to meet requirements of a couple laws on the books including a 1974 law that basically says a president can’t pause funds or significantly change approved spending because that’s Congress’ job.

ANSLOVER: Congress passed a law in 1974 called the Impoundment Control Act.

Nicole Anslover once again.

ANSLOVER: Since 1974 no one explored that, until Bill Clinton.

He proposed eliminating about 300,000 federal employees from the payroll to try to streamline government and tighten spending.

ANSLOVER: And then actually worked with Congress and Congress then passed a law that was called the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act. And so under that act, which had been worked on by both branches of government, then some federal employees did take a buyout.

So, the buyout plan is not unprecedented. However…

ANSLOVER: What's being offered here is again different.

This time, employees were only given just a few days to decide whether they would like to resign, and with very few details about how the plan would be worked out, or what protections were in place.

So, federal labor unions sued …

ANSLOVER: And so what we're seeing now is courts and federal judges are pushing back and saying the President does not have the authority to ask workers to so quickly make this decision.

Right now, the government is funded through March 14th. So one of the details that needs to be worked out is making sure these employees will actually be paid through September as promised, and that they have recourse if the government doesn’t uphold its end of the bargain.

ANSLOVER: No one is saying that the President can't do that. They're just asking the president to check in with Congress…Congress controls the purse strings.

The founders created checks and balances so that the government would move slowly, limiting its power.

For now, the buyout offer is in the hands of the courts, and employees continue to show up to work. Nicole Anslover says it will be up to the President and his team to come to a viable solution that balances government efficiency with the rule of law.

ANSLOVER: The President and Congress need to work together. Both houses of Congress need to work together to make sure that the government is functioning as intended.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

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