DEFENSE BUYOUTS

DefenseLINK News: Thousands Being Offered Thousands To Leave DoD Work Force

Up to 25,000 Defense Department civilians may be eligible for thousands of dollars in separation pay through an early-buyout program.

The program is part of the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act.

On Dec. 30, Ginger Groeber, deputy undersecretary of defense for civilian personnel policy, allocated 25,000 buyouts to defense components to pay eligible departing employees up to $25,000 if they choose to leave their jobs early.

She said the program is available for permanent hires, which includes workers not on time-limited appointments such as temporary appointments or those with a specified end date to their employment, and is available to both appropriated and nonappropriated fund personnel.

The program has no age limitation, but workers must have worked for the Defense Department for at least 12 months before accepting a buyout. They must also be U.S. citizens, Groeber said.

Not all workers will get the $25,000 maximum payment, she said. The buyout is the lesser of $25,000 or what the employee would receive in severance pay.

Groeber said the program’s primary beneficiaries are employees who work at facilities the Defense Department expects to close, or at locations where there is a change in the military mission. She said that while the buyout will help DoD to minimize its work force at commands and organizations that are downsizing or restructuring, it also may allow the department to offer a substantial sum of money to workers forced out of their jobs through the separation process.

This seems rather out of the blue. This bears keeping an eye on.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Jim says:

    It makes a touch of sense: Next year is a of base closures after all (BRAC). It would be far cheaper (and nicer) to offer buyouts to a workforce whose post is closing than attempt to convince them to move to a base that that isn’t re-alligned. Consider this a sop to the various communities who are about to find themselves with a ex-post.

  2. Not altogether that suprising, as some horrific (like half) portion of all Federal workers will be eligible for retirement within a few years. The demographic passing of the baby boom could be disasterous, so they’re trying to encourage people to leave in such a fashion that doesn’t get them nailed with an age discrimination lawsuit.