Updated February 05, 2025 at 13:48 PM ET
Thursday is the deadline for more than 2 million federal workers to accept a deal from the Trump administration to resign from their jobs and keep pay and benefits through the end of September.
Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, has a simple warning for employees weighing the option: "It's a bad deal."
Erwin, whose organization represents about 110,000 workers across various agencies and departments, told Morning Edition he feels that the proposal is a "scam."
"This administration in this proposal has made it sound like you're going to get a buyout and you're not going to have to work until Sept. 30," Erwin said. "But the truth is, there is no guarantee of that. Congress has not authorized it, and it is more than likely that folks are going to get stiffed on that."
On Monday, agencies sent employees sample contract agreements with new terms and conditions of the offer. The version sent to Environmental Protection Agency employees included language acknowledging that any pay past mid-March would be "subject to the availability of appropriations."
Congressional leaders, attorneys and unions warn that there is no guarantee of pay or benefits beyond March 14, which is when funding for the federal government expires.
'Critical services' would be affected
Erwin said he's concerned the public doesn't understand how federal services they have come to rely on would be affected by this push aimed at reducing the federal workforce.
While the offer excludes military personnel, the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security, Erwin said key service gaps would emerge. Reductions would affect some 400,000 Veterans Affairs workers take care of veterans, Erwin said, impacting the government's "promise" to care for service veterans.
Cuts would also affect the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and many others, Erwin said.
"They guarantee clean air, clean water, safe food, safe air travel, passports, you name it," Erwin said. "And people really don't understand how important the services that federal workers provide are to the American way of life."
Legal questions hang over the proposal
On Tuesday, several other unions representing federal employees sued the Trump administration over the deferred resignation offer.
The unions have asked a federal district court in Massachusetts to declare the directive "arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with law" and block the Feb. 6 deadline for at least 60 days.
"Federal employees shouldn't be misled by slick talk from unelected billionaires and their lackeys," said AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a statement. "We won't stand by and let our members become the victims of this con."
Labor and workplace correspondent Andrea Hsu contributed.
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