USDA, Energy Dept offer incentives for staff to quit, emails say

By Leah Douglas

(Reuters) - The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy are offering employees a second round of financial incentives to leave their jobs this month, according to Monday evening emails sent to staff and shared with Reuters.

Trump in a February 26 executive order directed all federal agencies to reduce staffing, part of a broader effort by Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk to shrink the federal government.

In January, the administration made a similar financial offer to 2 million federal workers, which it called the "Fork in the Road" program. Some USDA and Department of Energy staff accepted the offer, but it is not clear how many.

Employees at the departments who opt in to the Deferred Resignation Program by April 8 would be put on administrative leave with full pay and benefits through September 30, said emails to staff shared with Reuters.

The USDA employees would begin leave sometime between April 15 and 30, that email said.

The USDA is also offering early retirement to employees who are at least 50 years old with 20 years of federal service, or any age with 25 years of federal service, according to the email.

The USDA has not yet finalized its staff reduction plans but the plan will include relocating employees away from the Washington, D.C., area, according to the email.

"We cannot give you full assurance regarding which positions will remain - or where they will be located - after USDA's restructuring," the email said.

The USDA and DOE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The DOE said in its email that some staff involved in public safety, national security and other essential roles may not be eligible.

A DOE source said staff who left in the first round were about to retire. "I think they're hoping there will be self-selection which will make the forthcoming reduction in force less bad and better targeted," the source said about the second round.

Nearly 6,000 probationary workers were fired at the USDA in February and then brought back in recent weeks under court order.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas, additional reporting by Timothy Gardner, Editing by Franklin Paul)