OPM says 92% of fed departures this year were voluntary. Those who left disagree

One former National Park Service employee, who, like thousands of their colleagues accepted the Trump administration's offer for several months of paid leave before leaving government service, said ever since they accepted the “deferred resignation program” has had “pangs of regret.” 

“I ‘voluntarily’ chose to leave the most amazing job I could ever have as a scientist because of the toxic environment the administration made for us federal employees,” the former worker said. After a slew of firings and actions that “made it harder to get our jobs done,” the former NPS staffer said they decided to accept the offer to “protect my well-being.”

Around 317,000 federal employees have left government since January, Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor said on social media on Wednesday. Overwhelmingly, he said—92% of those separated—the employees left voluntarily. Due in part to an array of court decisions and legislative actions, only around 24,000 employees were fired or laid off.

Most employees left on their own volition, Kupor emphasized, who suggested the reports of mass firings were understandable but misleading. Many employees told Government Executive the characterization was not a fair one. Instead, they said, they left jobs they had intended to spend many more years, if not their entire careers, under duress with the Sword of Damocles dangling over their necks. 

“We were forced out,” said an Agriculture Department employee who accepted the DRP offer in April. “There was no volunteering.” 

The former Farm Production and Conservation Business Center employee said they were explicitly told they would be subject to an involuntary reduction in force or relocation if they did not accept the offer, which was corroborated by other employees in the office and internal communications viewed by Government Executive. Employees had only a week to make a decision, the now-former employee said, in a period marked by chaos, unanswered questions and stress. The individual subsequently asked to unwind the decision, but was told no by office leadership. 

USDA, like many agencies throughout government, implemented a heavy pressure campaign to motivate employees to accept the extended paid leave offer to minimize the number of employees it would have to lay off through reductions in force. Employees received as many as 20 emails from human resources, agency leadership and their own supervisors during the week the DRP window was open enfcouraging them to take advantage of the offer. 

“We were being peppered like hot wings before grilling,” one employee who received the email barrage said at the time. Asked about Kupor’s description of the events, that employee pushed back: “It’s semantics and word play,” he said. “They call it voluntary but it didn’t feel like it.” 

A supervisor at USDA, where more than 15,000 employees accepted the resignation offers, said three of their employees took the deal under duress. 

“They thought if they didn’t they were gonna get fired,” the supervisor said, “so no, it wasn’t voluntary. They felt they didn’t have a choice.”

McLaurine Pinover, an OPM spokesperson, refuted that version of events. 

“The Deferred Resignation Program was fully voluntary, full stop,” Pinover said. “No one was forced to sign up. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers used the program to depart the government on their own terms, with dignity and generous financial benefits.”

A U.S. Forest Service employee said they felt “personally insulted” by the implication that any of the decisions by employees in their agency have been voluntary. 

“When the DRP came out it was: resign or risk your position being eliminated,” the employee said. “The disrespect to us has been unprecedented.”

‘Heartbreaking’ decisions

Joshua Hughes, a former Internal Revenue Service employee, is now caring for his two elderly parents after accepting the DRP and is uninsured while dealing with a pre-existing brain tumor. He accepted the offer after being told his Enterprise Case Management Office would soon be dissolved. 

“The conditions under which we made our decisions were far from voluntary," said Hughes, who added his savings are nearly depleted. "I would have never left if given a choice." 

Hughes added he was proud of and excelling in his career, but the DRP was “presented as the only meaningful option to avoid a RIF with minimal compensation.”

“Having to leave was more than heartbreaking and something I never anticipated,” Hughes said. His former IRS office still exists, but the leadership roles are vacant and few staff remain. 

Other employees said the offer simply provided added compensation to long-planned retirements. A former refugee officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for example, said she would have retired in another year or two but took the DRP given the direction the Trump administration has taken refugee operations. She said she did not want to put off her retirement just to “push paper.” 

Interior Department employees reported staff swarming to the DRP offers, which came in two waves earlier this year, after being warned of cuts by leadership in their respective bureaus. In addition to general consolidation efforts, Interior employees said they were fearful of President Trump’s budget recommending the zeroing out of certain offices and promises to convert employees into more politically vulnerable positions under the new “Schedule Policy/Career” designation. Mass layoffs at Interior have been twice delayed due to various court decisions. 

One such departee, the former NPS employee experiencing some “pangs of regret,” said they ultimately are happy they left.  

“I miss my job and the great people,” the former employee said. Speaking to their old colleagues, they added, “I hear of the handcuffs put on them and the funding frozen for good projects, so I am glad I am not trying to get work done with my hands tied behind my back.”