The Trump administration is offering what amounts to buyouts for federal workers who don’t want to return to the office as part of the president’s breakneck efforts to reshape the government in his second term.

Roughly 2 million government employees started receiving emails this week about “deferred resignation,” raising questions about legal challenges and how the buyouts could shake up Washington.

Here's what to know.

Who’s eligible?

Most federal workers appear to be eligible for the buyouts.

Emails started to go out Tuesday evening to offer the apparent buyouts to all full-time federal employees, with the exceptions of military personnel, U.S. Postal Service workers and positions related to immigration enforcement and national security.

But individual agencies can also exclude specific positions from the offer, leaving unclear how broadly available the offer is.

As it makes sweeping changes to the workforce, the administration is offering employees who don’t want to continue their current role the chance to accept “deferred resignation,” a program to facilitate what the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) called “a dignified, fair departure from the federal government.”

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted many federal employees to remote work, and a December report from OPM found that 43 percent of the federal workforce participated in “routine or situational telework” in fiscal 2023 — though that figure was down from the year prior.

However, 54 percent of federal employees have a job that requires being on-site, according to an Office of Management and Budget report that has since been removed from the White House website. And for those eligible to telework, more than 60 percent of their working hours were spent in office.

The Biden administration had worked to lock in hybrid work protections at some agencies, but President Trump issued a directive on his first day in office that federal employees return to physical offices as part of his plans to reform the workforce. The administration last week gave federal agencies 30 days to implement the change.

And there are other shake-ups on the horizon, such as the overall downsizing of federal agencies, potential consolidation and relocation for some federal offices, and updates to performance standards, according to OPM’s Tuesday note.

How do the buyouts work?

The deferred resignation program kicked off on Jan. 28 and gives eligible federal employees roughly a week to decide whether to opt........

© The Hill