Trump Firings Alter EEOC; Federal Workers Get Notice of Buyout Plan

The phrase “May you live in interesting times” has deep roots. A 1930s memoir written by Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, who at the time was a British Ambassador to China, mentions it as a sort of “blessing and a curse” signoff from a friend before the diplomat left England for Asia in 1936.

Examining the current United States political and work environment since the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Donald Trump, “interesting times” may be quite apropos. Response to the new administration’s flurry of actions has been strong and divided.

Some of the latest moves — which directly impact federal employers, employees and human capital functions (and directly or indirectly affect many in the private sector) — reflect a path that encapsulates (and can be viewed by participating parties and observers in terms of) solutions and problems. These moves include:

A shakeup at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
A resignation offer to federal employees

Trump’s Upheaval of Federal Agencies Continues

A Jan. 28 Workspan Daily article chronicled a shakeup at the National Labor Relations Board, with the new President firing a board member and the general counsel and promoting a Republican board member to chair, with the unstated but not-so-subtle goal of the agency becoming a better ally for American employers.

A similar upheaval also occurred at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). News reports began circulating on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 28, that Trump fired two of the three Democratic members of the five-person agency, which enforces federal laws that make it illegal for employers to discriminate (in hiring, wages, benefits, promotions, etc.) against a job applicant or employee because of the person’s:

Race;
Color;
Religion;
Sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation);
National origin;
Age (40 or older);
Disability; or
Genetic information.

Receiving late-night terminations on Monday, Jan. 27, were:

Charlotte Burrows, who chaired the EEOC during the Biden administration and whose five-year term on the commission was scheduled to expire on July 1, 2028; and
Jocelyn Samuels, the Biden-era commission vice chair, who was confirmed to serve until July 1, 2026.

EEOC general counsel Karla Gilbride, who was confirmed during the Biden administration for a four-year term ending in 2027, was also fired.

The actions leave the EEOC with just two committee members: acting chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, and commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, a Democrat. Lucas’ term is scheduled to expire in July 2025; Kotagal’s expires in July 2027. With this status, the agency does not have a working quorum and cannot make any official decisions until at least one additional member is installed by the new President. Commission retooling will likely reflect a more business-friendly approach to employment law interpretation and enforcement.

Both Burrows and Samuels indicated to news agencies on Jan. 28 they are exploring legal options to challenge their terminations. A statement posted later that day on the website for law firm Katz Banks Kumin LLP said the law firm is representing Burrows. In that statement, Burrows is quoted as saying, “Removing me, along with Commissioner Samuels, well before the expiration of our terms is unprecedented and will undermine the efforts of this independent agency to do the important work of protecting employees from discrimination, supporting employers’ compliance efforts, and expanding public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws.”

As explained in the Jan. 28 Workspan Daily article, there is indeed a question whether the at-will firing of seated committee members is legal. The Supreme Court’s 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States generally supplies many independent agencies (e.g., the EEOC, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors) with protection from having its members removed. However, recent lawsuits have alleged that shields against at-will removal are an unconstitutional limit on a President’s power.

In additional EEOC news, acting chair Lucas announced on Wednesday, Jan. 29, that the agency, in support of Trump’s Executive Order 14166, is actively “rolling back the Biden administration’s gender identity agenda.” As such, the agency has:

Ended the use of the “X” gender marker during the intake process for filing a charge of discrimination.
Directed the modification of the charge of discrimination and related forms to remove “Mx.” from the list of prefix options.
Commenced review of the content of the EEOC’s “Know Your Rights” poster, which all covered employers are legally required to post in their workplaces.
Removed materials promoting “gender ideology” on the commission’s internal and external websites and documents.

Federal Workers Offered Package in Exchange for Resignation

In another move with major employer-employee-workplace ramifications, the Trump White House on Tuesday, Jan. 28, released details of an email (and related offer) sent to all federal employees. The crux of the message: Workers who do not wish to comply with the President’s federal workforce vision, including his return-to-office mandate, may resign by Feb. 6 and receive a pay-and-benefits package.

A memo titled “Fork in the Road,” which was posted on the Office of Performance Management (OPM) website, shared the content of an email sent Jan. 28 to federal workers. It explained the federal workforce going forward will be built on four pillars:

Return to office
Performance culture
More streamlined and flexible workforce
Enhanced standards of conduct

Employees who wish to comply with this vision and its requirements may remain in employment. However, the email stated, “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency, but should your position be eliminated, you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”

Employees who wish to not comply with the workplace changes have until Feb. 6 to reply to the email by typing the word “Resign” into the subject line. In exchange for the resignation, the email stated, “You will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason).”

Deferred resignation is available to full-time federal employees except for military personnel, U.S. Postal Service employees, and those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security.

According to Axios, which broke the news of the offer:

The White House expects 5% to 10% of federal employees to accept the offer (according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal government employed just over 3 million workers as of November 2024).
The administration projects the buyouts could save taxpayers up to $100 billion a year.

In a post string on his social media channel X, Elon Musk called the resignation push a “severance offer” and “very generous.”

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers, denounced the program, with organization president Everett Kelley stating, “Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”

Max Stier, the president and CEO at the Partnership for Public Service, which advocates on behalf of civil servants, stated, “The Trump administration’s recent efforts to encourage the bulk of the federal workforce to resign are perplexing, of questionable legality and dangerous. ... Stripping away expert talent through such a non-strategic approach puts all of us at risk in a profound way.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics: