Date: January 30, 2025
TELG principal Michael Vogelsang spoke with CNBC to offer advice for federal employees on the fence about what to do with the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer. Mr. Vogelsang advised federal employees to take their time and suggested factors to consider before making a decision.
Quoteworthy:
“If you resign, it’s deemed voluntary. If you are a permanent, tenured employee in the government and the administration wants you out, laws still exist that federal employees cannot just be fired on a whim.”
Michael L. Vogelsang, Jr.
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Here’s what federal employees need to consider when evaluating offer to resign
The Trump administration emailed more than 2 million federal workers this week, giving them the option to resign now and get pay and benefits through Sept. 30.
Workers have until Feb. 6 to accept the “deferred resignation” offer.
The payouts come on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order to end DEI programs. On Wednesday, he said federal workers need to return to the office five days a week “or be terminated.”
[…]
Experts advise federal employees to take their time before accepting the offer. By accepting the resignation, tenured federal employees could lose certain rights they may have.
“If you resign, it’s deemed voluntary,” said Michael L. Vogelsang, Jr., a principal of The Employment Law Group, P.C. “If you are a permanent, tenured employee in the government and the administration wants you out, laws still exist that federal employees cannot just be fired on a whim.”
[…]
Unlike with corporate buyouts, federal employees who received this offer can’t appeal for a better deal, experts say.
“Usually with buyouts, I think of more severance, and usually it’s sort of some kind of negotiation. This isn’t really negotiation. It’s sort of a unilateral offer,” Vogelsang said.
Still, some of the factors to consider for weighing the government’s deferred resignation offer are similar to what one would weigh in a corporate buyout, experts say:
Consider how much your position is at risk
For federal employees who aren’t permanent, Vogelsang says they should consider how much their position is at risk and if their skills make it likely they’ll be able to find another job.
“I think there’s enough executive orders out there that people in DEI, probationary employees, IRS employees, environmental employees, can probably read between the lines that their positions may be at risk moving forward,” he said.
