ISTOCK, KRBLOKHINBuyouts offered by the Trump administration to more than 1,200 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees have prompted 400 people to leave their posts since the end of last month, The Wall Street Journal reports. This mass exit has resulted in a 2.5 percent cut in the agency’s staff, the report states, and if workers continue to take the buyouts, the EPA could be facing its smallest operating staff since the late 1980s.
The majority of the deals presented to employees consisted of buyouts or voluntary early retirement for eligible employees, according to an E&E News report from earlier this summer (July 17). The number of EPA employees offered either deal was expected to tally up to 1,227 workers for this summer, with the EPA’s Office of Research and Development hit the hardest by a potential loss of 183 workers. Those who choose to opt into the summer buyouts will have to do so by September 2 of this year, E&E reports.
According to The Wall Street Journal, it’s not yet known which EPA departments the departures affected most.
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