Dismissal

who doesn't.

We're about to play the first episode of Zero Reject for you called Reduction in Force.

You'll hear the story of Beth Gelman Beer, a child with a learning disability turned federal civil rights attorney fighting for special needs children to get the education they deserve.

Here's the episode.

I did not, needless to say, I did not celebrate my birthday for my 50th birthday.

I was in no mood to celebrate.

Beth and her colleagues were among hundreds of thousands of federal employees let go in the first year of Trump's second term, many en masse under something called a reduction in force or a RIF.

It was big news at the time, hence the reporters calling.

Federal employees, we all know that getting RIF'd from the government is not anything that we would pick.

But if it did happen to us, what actually happens to your benefits? What happens to your pension? What about your health insurance, TSP? What happens to all that stuff? That's what we're gonna hit today.

So again, pension, health insurance, TSP, some of your core benefits.

You choose it or don't choose it.

A DSR is very similar in what the benefits you can keep.

The difference is you don't have a choice, right? You are, you are getting kicked out of the government, you're getting RIF'd.

The, the decision though, or the, the thing to know is do you actually get benefits? And to qualify for a DSR, you have to have at least 20 years of service at age 50 or older, or if you have 25 years of service or more at any age.

So if you, as long as you hit one of those criteria, you qualify for a DSR, which the main benefit is your pension starts away, right away.

Right.

A RIF is essentially the federal government's legal mechanism for conducting mass layoffs.

So that moratorium acted as a legal shield.

It basically prevented the administration from indiscriminately firing people just to hit their shrinkage targets.

If the shield is gone, what does that actually mean for the structural integrity of these agencies? It sounds like removing a massive load-bearing column while people are still trying to live and work inside the building.

The structural strain is immense, honestly.

With the RIF moratorium expired, we are seeing agencies having to navigate incredible targeted staff reductions.

Like who? Give me some examples.

So I, I just-- Mark and I were whispering because for those of you who watched the chat today, there was a question in the chat about, is there gonna be another layoff because there's a ninety-five FTE reduction, and we didn't understand.

We have no RIF's planned, but now it's becoming clear.

They were seeing this agenda and that ninety-five number in the packet, and that's what they translated into, "They must be planning a RIF." And I think Kim said we're not planning a RIF, but we are planning to have a, you know, a glide path down to that ninety-five FTEs by judicious filling of open requisitions, and that's what Kim was just alluding to.

to.Yes, and it's in the performance improvement in the budget.

It wasn't June and it is now.

Okay.

So for the Pulaski students listening who might only be familiar with private sector labor dynamics, we need to clarify what a RIF actually entails.

Good idea.

Because in the private sector, a mass layoff is relatively straightforward, right?

It is a highly regulated, mathematically complex bureaucratic process.

It is incredibly complex, and it's essential to understand why the administration wanted the authority to use it and why federal employee unions fought so hard for that moratorium.

What actually happens during a RIF?

[lip smack] Well, when an agency executes a RIF, they don't just pick individuals to fire.

New research suggests people are less troubled by uncertainty than by being left in the dark.

Plus, from RIF rules and pay policy to artificial intelligence and retirement security, federal employees and retirees are thinking about both today's challenges and tomorrow's government.

Those stories and much more ahead during this hour of The Federal Drive.

We begin with this.

Listen to The Federal Drive wherever you get your podcasts.

Still to come, four military children who grew up overseas answering the question, where are you from, is often more complicated than it sounds.

But first, from RIF rules and pay policy to artificial intelligence and retirement security, federal employees and retirees are thinking about both today's challenges and tomorrow's government.

You're listening to The Federal Drive with Terry Girtin on Federal News Network.