Early Retirements Available At USDA

By Robert Brodsky

The Department of Agriculture has received approval from the Office of Personnel Management to offer voluntary early retirements and voluntary separation incentive payments to a maximum of 100 employees affected by a recent management restructuring. The move was announced in a Nov. 24 memo to staffers by David Love, USDA's human resources operations transition coordinator.

To be eligible, employees must be in one of 11 job categories now encompassing the new Departmental Management Office and must meet certain retirement criteria. Employees selecting the voluntary separation incentive payments option are eligible for a lump sum payment of $25,000 or an amount equal to the employee's computed severance pay -- whichever is less. Employees must decide whether to take either option between Dec.1 and Dec.14.

All retirements must be effective no later than Jan. 3, 2010, the memo said. Employees who accept the early retirements cannot be reemployed with the federal government for five years unless they repay the money back to the agency.

The USDA reorganization has caused significant concern among rank and file USDA employees. Earlier this month, Government Executive reported that Chief Financial Officer Evan Segal had left his job indefinitely in protest to some of the changes.