If you are a Federal employee, you may be surprised to find a new email in your inbox offering yet another opportunity to leave your government job immediately, and defer your actual separation date until September 30, 2025. It’s being called Deferred Resignation 2.0 (DRP), and has been offered, this time, on an agency basis to help reduce the entire Federal workforce to meet the goals set by the current administration.
So far, a host of government agencies have offered the second round of the Deferred Resignation Program to its employees with various deadline dates and they include: Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Department of Interior, Department of Treasury, Department of Agriculture, the IRS, Department of VA, SBA and probably a few others with no doubt more to come before this fiscal year is over. Was that first DRP offer a missed opportunity you should accept this time? Let’s make sure you understand what the DRP promises.
As with the initial DRP memo of January 28th, the second round proposes that interested employees contact their supervisors or, depending on your agency, respond directly through a portal, to accept the opportunity to resign.
Under the DRP, employees will enter a transition period, the starting date to be specified by the agency, during which they are not expected to work and will receive paid administrative leave until September 30, 2025 when their Federal employment will end.
What are the parameters of the DRP program?
First that you are eligible to apply. You are eligible if you are a full time Federal employee with the exception of: the military personnel of the armed forces, the United States Postal Service, personnel in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and those related to public safety. Additionally, each Federal agency may identify critical positions that may exclude this offer.
Second, once an employee accepts the DRP, the decision is not to be rescinded. An employee who accepts DRP then changes his mind may request that his agency rescinds the resignation, but it is up to the agency to review a request and make a decision. In many cases once an employee has been placed on administrative leave, that may serve as a valid reason to deny a request to rescind.
Third, if you accept the DRP and wish to retire or resign before the deadline of September 30, 2025, you may do so. But, if you wish to extend the deferred resignation date past September 30, 2025, the DRP does not allow this unless you are planning to retire by December 31, 2025 in which case the date may be extended to your planned retirement date this year.
During this period of deferring your resignation, many agencies are also offering the Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA) which allows Federal employees to retire early with unreduced benefits. If an employee qualifies for and decides to retire under the VERA, they must apply for retirement by the end of the VERA offering, which may be different from the end of the DRP. Remember, to be eligible to do a VERA, an employee with at least 25 years of qualifying Federal service may leave at any age, and an employee with 20 years or more Federal service, but less than 25 years may leave at age 50 and over.
If an employee is eligible for a VERA, he may still choose to leave under the DRP and effect his retirement date before the deadline for the VERA. So, if an employee is eligible for the VERA today, but chooses to leave under the DRP, he may separate now and choose to apply for the VERA on September 30, 2025, provided the VERA is offered through that date. The employee would still accrue retirement and leave credit for the period starting on the day of his separation and going through the end of September, and the retirement date would begin October 1, 2025.
As with the initial DRP offer, agencies may impose exemptions to the DRP and the VERA for employees whose positions are considered critical. Each agency offering the VERA and/or DRP should include those positions that are exempt from these programs.
And last, according to the original DRP description, accepting the deferred resignation offer does not affect your ability to work for the Federal government in the future and does not affect your ability to do regular retirement during the DRP offer. Since the Federal workforce is expected to continue to go through significant changes, please remain aware of your actual retirement options as you make important separation decisions.
Keep in mind, Federal retirement benefits are payable to you for the rest of your life. Make sure you know when you qualify.
