Veterans Affairs Acting Secretary Todd Hunter emailed all VA employees on Monday saying the department would honor an offer for federal workers to be paid through Sept. 30 if they submit a “deferred resignation” by a Feb. 6 deadline.
The email is a follow-on to one issued Jan. 28 by the Office of Personnel Management that announced a deferred resignation program for federal employees. The “Fork in the Road” announcement said federal employees must return to work in the office and could be subject to downsizing, among other changes, if they stay.
But a senator warned on Monday that no federal funding has been authorized by Congress to actually pay for such resignations, and the government could not guarantee employees who take the deal would actually be paid through September. Also, job positions may no longer exist if employees change their minds.
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In his email, Hunter extended the offer to all employees but later noted that not all would be accepted.
“On Jan. 28, 2025, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a government-wide email presenting a deferred resignation offer to federal employees … on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs, I am informing you that the officer is valid, lawful and will be honored by VA,” Hunter wrote in his email.
Hunter promised that if VA employees tenured their resignations, they would receive pay and benefits through Sept. 30 and would not be subject to any reductions in force or premature separations.
“You are not expected to work during the deferred resignation period and will be able to take a non-governmental job during the deferred resignation period, subject to applicable laws and regulations,” Hunter wrote.
The announcement follows more than two years of extensive hiring by the VA to fill essential roles, including clinical staff and benefits workers. In fiscal 2023, the Veterans Health Administration staff grew by 7.4% with the hiring of roughly 61,000 people, for a net increase of 28,000, and the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles claims, hired more than 6,000.
But the VA announced in early 2024 that it needed to trim 10,000 full-time positions, largely as a result of the record hiring and improved retention. The department has roughly 450,000 employees.
As a result of an executive order from President Donald Trump in January calling for a federal hiring freeze, the VA announced that more than 304,000 jobs at the department were considered exempt, under exceptions that include health-care workers and public safety personnel. But it also said that no other vacancies would be filled and those who were hired but hadn’t been onboarded before Feb. 8 would have their job offers rescinded.
In his email Monday, Hunter reiterated that agencies can reject resignation requests from those who work in “health care, law enforcement, public safety and other limited categories of essential services.”
On Monday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent emails to federal workers in Washington saying OPM could not guarantee that workers who submit their resignations would be paid through Sept. 30, given that the government is currently funded only through March 14 and Congress must pass fiscal 2025 appropriations.
“At this point, there is no funding allocated to agencies to pay staff for this offer,” said Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
She added that the offer comes with caveats and federal employees should be aware that if they change their mind, their job may no longer exist. The offer also says that federal employees aren’t expected to work if their resignation is accepted, but Hunter’s email notes there may be exceptions to that rule.
“The lack of clear information and resources about exactly what will be allowed is rightfully creating confusion for the more than 56,000 federal workers across Washington state. To me, this leaves far too many questions unanswered,” Murray wrote.
The VA acting secretary’s email also noted that the VA will seek the ability to allow for voluntary early retirement, a program that enables the federal agencies to temporarily lower age or service requirements for workers to get federal retirement.
The number of VA employees who would be eligible for early retirement in 2025 has not been disclosed. The VA did not respond to requests for additional information by publication.
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