California Attorney General Sounds Alarm Over Trump’s Buyout Proposal

February 5, 2025 TruthUSA

The federal government anticipates a significant increase in the number of employees opting for the buyout within the next 24 to 48 hours.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a warning on Feb. 3 to federal employees in the state regarding what he described as the Trump administration’s “questionable ‘deferred resignation’ program.”

Bonta stated that unions representing federal employees cautioned their members against the buyout offer, noting that benefits were not guaranteed.

“I strongly encourage federal employees to pay attention to their unions’ warnings and to exercise caution with any buyout proposals,” he said in a statement.

On Jan. 28, the Trump administration unveiled the “deferred resignation” initiative, which offers eligible federal employees eight months of salary and benefits coverage until the end of September, provided they resign by Feb. 6.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government’s primary human resources agency and personnel policy overseer, distributed over 2 million emails to federal workers across the country that same day detailing the proposal.

According to a Trump administration official, more than 20,000 federal workers have accepted the buyout, representing over 1 percent of the workforce. However, the rate of deferred resignations is rapidly increasing, with the largest surge anticipated within 24 to 48 hours of the Feb. 6 deadline, the official noted.

Bonta is part of a coalition of 12 attorneys general, including New York’s Letitia James, who issued a warning ahead of the buyout deadline.

“The Trump Administration’s so-called buyout offer is a deliberate effort to undermine our federal workforce and create chaos for Americans reliant on a functioning government,” Bonta stated.

McLaurine Pinover, OPM’s communications director, informed The Epoch Times that the buyout “is an uncommon, generous opportunity that was carefully evaluated and intentionally designed to assist employees during restructuring.”

“Rather than disseminating misinformation and using workers as political instruments, they should ensure that federal employees have accurate information and the freedom to make the best decisions for themselves and their families,” she said, addressing critics including the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union.

As of March 2024, California boasts 180,973 federal employees, according to Pinover.

California ranks third in the nation for the most federal workers, following Virginia and Washington, D.C., based on a 2023 report from the nonpartisan nonprofit organization Partnership for Public Service.

The five agencies with the highest numbers of federal employees nationwide are Veterans Affairs, Navy, Army, Homeland Security, and the Air Force.

However, military personnel, U.S. Postal Service employees, and workers in immigration enforcement and national security are not eligible for the buyout offer.

The report also indicated that the overall government attrition rate for fiscal year 2023 was 5.9 percent, compared to 7.6 percent in fiscal year 2022 and 6.1 percent in fiscal year 2021.

Mark Tapscott contributed to this report.

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