Offer Separation Pay

1. Provide departments and agencies with the authority to offer
separation pay.

By October 1993, OPM should forward draft legislation to Congress to
permit any department or agency to offer cash payments to encourage
eligible employees to voluntarily separate from the federal service,
whether by retirement or resignation, to avoid or minimize the need for
involuntary separations due to reduction in force, reorganization,
transfer of function, or similar action. The legislation should include
a comprehensive, governmentwide strategy for determining the dates
during which cash payments would be offered to maximize acceptance
rates.  Eligible employees would be those serving under permanent
appointment without time limitation for a continuous period of at least
12 months, excluding reemployed annuitants and employees who would
otherwise be eligible for disability retirement. The law will include a
provision requiring repayment of separation pay should the individual
become reemployed by the federal government within two years of the date
of separation.  Departments and agencies will fund the costs of this
measure from within their available appropriations.