HHS employees offered $25k as 'incentive to voluntarily separate'

Health and Human Services Department (HHS) employees have been offered up to $25,000 to part ways with the agency in order to help it downsize under President Donald Trump’s plans to shrink the federal workforce.

In the email sent on Friday, the HHS, which is led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said it has received authorization from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments.

The OPM “allows agencies that are downsizing or restructuring to offer employees lump-sum payments up to $25,000 as an incentive to voluntarily separate,” according to the email. This incentive is aimed at those who are in surplus positions or have skills that are no longer needed within their department.

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The payment is available to most employees within the HHS, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Employees also have the option to take the payment if they are eligible for optional or early retirement, according to the OPM’s website.

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“By allowing employees to volunteer to leave the Government, agencies can minimize or avoid involuntary separations through the use of costly and disruptive reductions in force,” the website stated.

There are around 80,000 people currently working for the HHS in some capacity, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The offer becomes available on Monday and forms must be submitted to local HR offices by Friday at 5 p.m.

The HHS is the second-costliest federal agency and accounts for 20.6% of America’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025 with $2.4 trillion in budgetary resources, according to USASpending.gov. Most of that money is spent by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.