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If you are a federal employee who received a deferred resignation buyout email and need help evaluating your rights, please reach out to schedule a consultation with Gaunce Law’s own Molly Buie, who practiced federal employment law in Washington, D.C. for 20 years.
UPDATE: The hold has been lifted and the deferred resignation program closed as of 7:20pm on February 12, 2025. View official announcement at www.opm.gov.
Federal Judge Orders Temporary Halt to Deferred Resignation Program for Federal Employees
If you are a federal employee, or know someone who is, you likely have been following the events of the past 10 days closely. On January 28, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent out an email to approximately 2.3 million federal workers entitled “Fork in the Road.” The email outlined a “deferred resignation program,” under which federal workers could agree to resign now, but retain all pay and benefits – while being exempted from in-person work requirements – until September 30, 2025, at which point their resignations would become effective. Subsequent communications from OPM went so far as to say that employees would be placed on paid administrative leave and could “travel to [their] dream destination” or take a second job in the private sector during the deferred resignation period.
The deadline to accept the offer was originally set for February 6, 2024. However, late yesterday afternoon, a Massachusetts federal judge ordered the government to pause the deadline pending arguments over the legality of the program on Monday, February 10, 2025. OPM will extend the deadline through that time.
Some of the issues the judge could consider include:
How the buyout offer applies to employees over 40 years old, who have the right under federal law to consider any employment settlement offer for 21-days, and are entitled to a 7-day revocation period;
Whether employees could be forced to reimburse the government for any pay they receive while on administrative leave if the payments are later determined to be unauthorized;
Whether employees will be able to rescind their resignation if they accept the buyout but do not receive the promised benefits; and
How the buyout offer applies to employees who took paid parental leave but have not yet been back at work for the required 12 weeks following their leave.