At least twenty employees of the U.S. federal government have been told by their human resources agency that they only have nine days to decide if they want to move to Washington. Labor unions and governance specialists say this is a ploy to force federal workers out.
Two people who are familiar with the directive or copies of the email say that the Office of Personnel Management sent out an email to remote workers on Wednesday, informing them of their relocation to Washington. They have until March 7th to decide whether they accept the move.
The memo informs OPM employees that, if they refuse to move to Washington, their “continued employment at this agency could be limited and the Agency might pursue adverse actions against you.” The memo notes that they could be eligible for severance.
This is the first time that President Donald Trump, his cost-cutting czar Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency (also known as DOGE) have demanded that remote federal employees move to Washington.
Two of the workers who got the email have already expressed their desire to leave OPM. According to a third source, at least 200 workers received the email.
OPM, DOGE, and the White House didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment.
Nick Bednar is a governance expert from the University of Minnesota Law School. He said that government agencies are entitled to re-locate workers and to fire them for refusing to do so. However, the OPM employees were given short notice, which he called “abnormal.”
It is obvious that the purpose of this notice was to make them quit their job. This is another way of reducing the size and scope of government.
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), a union that represents more than 110,000 federal employees, has said it is the first time they are aware of the Trump administration telling people to move to Washington.
Steve Lenkart said that the executive director of the union stated, “This is another attack against the civil service to force people to leave.”
The OPM ultimatum was striking because Trump had ordered agencies to submit their plans to move offices “to cheaper parts of the United States” by April 14, the same day that it was sent out to remote workers.
The new FBI director, Kash Patel, has already sent about 1,500 employees from the Washington area out to the field offices across the country. This includes approximately 500 employees in Alabama.
Musk and Trump are attempting to purge the federal workforce they see as corrupt and bloated. Musk’s aggressive approach has angered federal workers and unions, even though there is bipartisan consensus on the need for reforming the civil service.
Around 100,000 federal civil servants out of 2.3 million have been terminated or bought out.
Trump ordered this week that government agencies undertake large-scale layoffs. A new Trump administration memorandum instructed agencies to submit by March 13 plans for a “significant” reduction in staffing.
