On February 26, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a joint guidance memorandum concerning implementation of the Administration’s proposed large-scale reduction in force (RIF) of federal civil service employees. This memorandum implements a February 11, 2025 executive order previously analyzed in this blog.
The memorandum provided further details of what agencies are required to include in their Agency Reorganization Plans (ARPs), which agencies were directed to submit by March 13, 2025, pursuant to the executive order. Agencies were directed to seek reductions in headcount, real estate footprint and overall budget. Agencies were instructed to target contract employees and consultants and to focus reductions on those offices whose functions were not required by statute. The memorandum directed that agencies look to “close and/or consolidate regional field offices to the extent consistent with efficient service delivery” but noted that “agencies should align closures and/or relocation of bureaus and offices with agency return-to-office actions to avoid multiple relocation benefit costs for individual employees.” Agencies (who are required to coordinate with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff) are to avoid directing cuts for those ‘essential’ or ‘excepted employees’ who are required to work at a given agency in the event of a lapse in appropriations. Agencies were encouraged to use various tools to reduce headcounts, including reductions in force (RIF), performance-based or conduct-based removals (possibly to include increasing disciplinary actions through imposition of “enhanced policies governing employee performance and conduct”), separating reemployed annuitants, and nonrenewal of temporary or term appointments. Agencies were also directed to “consider changes to regulations and agency policies, including changes that must be pursued through notice-and-comment rulemaking, that would lead to the reduction or elimination of agency subcomponents or speed up the implementation of” agency restructuring.
The memorandum for the first time spelled out a two-phase ARP process. Under phase 1 ARPs (to be submitted to OPM and OMB by March 13, 2025), agencies were directed to exclude agency offices that provided direct services to citizens from reductions unless specifically authorized by OPM and OMB. Agencies were directed to identify which agency components were expressly statutorily required to exist. Agencies were to recommend whether the whole agency, or which of its components, should be eliminated or consolidated, and the means the agency intended to employ to affect the reduction.
Phase 2 ARPs (due April 14, 2025) called for plans to be implemented by September 30, 2025. Agencies were directed to update their proposed organizational chart, to review the data needed to create RIF registers for every agency employee (i.e. position description service computation date, performance evaluations and veterans’ preference status), and to identify competitive areas for large-scale RIFs. Agencies were directed to group employees based on their functions and coordinate with the General Services Administration to create “regional federal office hubs.” Agencies also must identify any proposed relocations from the Washington, DC area to “less-costly parts of the country.” Agencies were directed to centralize hiring so that agency leadership had “visibility and/or direct sign-off on all potential job offers and candidates prior to extending offers.” Agencies were again directed to continue the hiring ratio limit of one hire per four departing employees specified in the executive order. Agencies were required to outline plans to renegotiate any collective bargaining agreement provisions “that would inhibit government efficiency and cost-savings.” Agencies will be required to certify that the implementing reductions will not negatively impact services to citizens, and to justify any exclusions from the RIFs or other reduction efforts. Agencies were direct to examine possible changes to agency regulations to facilitate “the reduction or elimination of agency subcomponents, or speed up implementation of” RIFs and reorganizations.
The memorandum excluded the following government programs and functions:
- Positions that are necessary to meet law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement, or public safety responsibilities;
- Military personnel in the armed forces and all Federal uniformed personnel […]
- Officials nominated and appointed to positions requiring Presidential appointment or Senate confirmation, [or certain other politically-appointed or non-career appointees];
- The Executive Office of the President; [and]
- The U.S. Postal Service.
Attached to the memorandum was a “Sample RIF Timeline,” which contemplated agencies removing employees via RIF in approximately the May-June 2025 timeframe. The memorandum noted that “RIF timing may vary based on agency-specific requirements, collective bargaining agreements, and workforce considerations.”
If you are a federal employee facing an RIF and wish to discuss your rights and options, consider contacting Gilbert Employment Law, to request an initial consultation.