Staffers at the Department of Education have reportedly been warned by top officials at the agency that the Trump administration's buyout offer to quit now and get paid through September could be rescinded without warning.
The employees were informed Wednesday that the education secretary could cancel the so-called "deferred resignation" package and that they could potentially miss out on the promised pay, NBC News reported.
The Office of Personnel Management last week told federal workers they have until Thursday to decide whether they will resign and receive pay and benefits or face possible layoffs, restructurings or reductions in force.
The Trump administration is hoping 5% to 10% of the federal workforce would accept the offer as it continues on its quest to reduce the size of government.
Education Department officials told NBC News that Rachel Oglesby, the new chief of staff, and Jacqueline Clay, the chief human capital officer, told staffers during an all-staff Zoom call on Wednesday that the offer included numerous riders.
They said the education secretary would have the ability to rescind the agreement, or the government could cut off the checks. Employees who take the package would waive all legal claims, the report said.
Employees told NBC News that they had only seen sample resignation packages and were told they would have to quit by Thursday's deadline before they could see the actual terms of the agreement.
"It sounded like a commercial for a used car dealership, like, 'Act now, one day only,'" a department official who attended the meeting told NBC News.
Spokespeople for the Education Department and Office of Personnel Management said the alleged provisions were not the case, noting that the packages' "assurances are binding on the government. Were the government to backtrack on its commitments, an employee would be entitled to request a rescission of his or her resignation."
But NBC News reported that the sample agreement includes a clause that gives agency heads sole discretion to rescind the deals and that staffers waive the right to challenge them before the Merit Systems Protection Board "or any other forum."
Some federal workers fear the Trump administration's buyout offer is a bait-and-switch ploy to get them to resign while the government reneges on upholding its end of the agreement, leaving them without pay and benefits.
"The morale is pretty bad," an official told the network. "One of the managers I work with just said he hasn't seen any emails in the last four hours since the meeting ended, because everybody just kind of had the life sucked out of them."
