Federal Times buyout tracker
August 19th, 2011 | Staffing | Posted by Stephen Losey
With well over a dozen agencies considering, planning or offering buyouts and early retirements, we thought it was time to compile all this data together into one easy-to-find chart. As new agencies announce buyouts or update their plans, we’ll update the chart too, so keep checking FedLine for the latest in buyout news.
The latest is the Library of Congress, which today told employees it would offer buyouts and early outs to up to 349 employees. And it’s a safe bet that plenty more are on their way, especially with the White House eying budget cuts of up to 10 percent.
| Agency | Month | Numbers | Details |
| Justice | Jan. | 31 | Antitrust Division employees who took buyouts |
| USPS | April | 2,003 | Employees who took $20,000 buyouts; left by June |
| FTC | April | 38 | Employees who took buyouts and early outs and left by end of June; offers were extended to 301 employees |
| USDA | May | 544 | Employees offered buyouts; unspecified number of early retirements also offered |
| Smithsonian | May | 104 | Employees who applied for buyouts so far; some may drop out by Oct. 1 deadline |
| GPO | June | 330 | Buyouts and early outs offered |
| NRC | June | Up to 50 | Plans to ask for permission to offer up to 50 buyouts and unspecified number of early retirements; says still polishing request to be submitted to OPM |
| HUD | June | Unk. | Said several offices have permission to offer buyouts and early outs |
| Army | Aug. | Up to 8,741 | Announces plans to cut 8,741 civilian jobs by Oct. 2012, at least in part through buyouts and early outs |
| Education | Aug. | Unk. | Announces buyouts and early retirements largely targeted at senior officials |
| GAO | Aug. | 56 | Employees offered buyouts, unspecified number also offered early retirements; must leave by Sept. 30 |
| Commerce | Aug. | Unk. | Offers buyouts and early outs through Dec. 31, 2012 |
| Air Force | Aug. | Up to 4,000 | Announces plans to offer buyouts and early outs to 4,000 civilians |
| Library of Congress | Aug. | 349 | Buyouts and early outs offered; 175 to Library Services, 52 to Copyright division, 40 to Congressional Research Service, 29 to Office of Support Operations, 24 to Office of Strategic Initiatives, 16 to Law Library, 13 to Office of the Librarian |
Tags: budget cuts, buyouts, early retirements
OPM approves GAO buyouts
August 16th, 2011 | 2012 Budget | Posted by Stephen Losey
The Government Accountability Office just told its employees that the Office of Personnel Management has given the thumbs up to its buyout and early out plans. GAO sent employees a memo last week offering the buyouts and early retirements, but cautioning they were contingent on OPM’s approval.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 6, and those who accept the offers must retire by Sept. 30.
Tags: buyouts, early retirements, GAO
Did anyone take the USPS buyouts?
October 21st, 2009 | Agencies Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Are you one of the 18,000 people who accepted the Postal Service’s $15,000 buyout offer? Want to talk about why you took the deal? E-mail me. (Alternatively, if you didn’t accept the deal, I want to hear why not!)
I’m working on a story about the buyouts, and I’d love to include your stories. Glad to keep you anonymous, of course.
Tags: buyouts, early retirements
USPS incentives, ctd.
August 27th, 2009 | Agencies Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Thanks for the overwhelming response about the Postal Service’s buyout plan — can’t respond individually to every one, but I appreciate all of the letters and comments. I’ll be contacting a few of you individually for a story I’m working on, and I’ll post some of the better responses (w/o names) on here later today.
For now, keep ‘em coming.
Tags: early retirements
USPS offers incentives; will you take them?
August 25th, 2009 | Agencies Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Two questions for our readers at the Postal Service, following up on this afternoon’s announcement that USPS will offer buyouts to tens of thousands of employees.
First, I’ve been getting e-mails for at least a year from postal workers who said they would consider retiring early if the Postal Service offered an incentive. That incentive is here now, in the form of a $15,000 payout over 12 months. Is it enough? Will you take it?
Second, maybe you read this story I wrote in April after interviewing Postmaster General John Potter. It includes the following:
The Postal Service’s last round of early retirements did not include incentives. And Potter said incentives are not realistic this year, either.
“Our employees would love some kind of a windfall, but the fact is, we can’t afford to,” Potter said.
Less than five months later, USPS has done an about-face. In between Potter’s statement and today, though, some 2,500 postal workers accepted early retirement offers that did not include incentives. Are you one of those employees? Are you frustrated that you accepted the no-incentive offer?
Interested to hear from you, via e-mail or in the comments.
Tags: early retirements, John Potter