President Donald Trump’s administration acknowledged on Sunday night that some federal government employees who took the “Fork in the Road” buyout offer were also, subsequently, fired or let go — and that this was an error.
An Office of Personnel Management official told ABC News that some employees who responded to the buyout offer ahead of the deadline last week may have received termination notices by mistake but, for those personnel, the buyouts agreements would be honored.
A view shows the logo of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), after probationary staff at the OPM were fired in a conference call and given less than an hour to leave the building, outside OPM in Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2025.
Tierney L. Cross/Reuters
Nick Detter told ABC News that he is one of those workers. Detter, a natural resource specialist with the USDA, said he was fired Thursday even though he already accepted the administration’s buyout offer, meaning that he should have been paid through September.
Despite OPM’s explanation, Detter says he hasn’t been able to get any guidance directly. He said that his supervisors in Kansas, where he’s based, told him they have no information.
“I frankly find it pretty insulting and chaotic and disorganized,” Detter told ABC News.
“I would never say that there’s no room for improvement efficiency in the federal government,” he said. “But in my experience over the last month with this whole thing, that’s not what this has been. This has just been slash and burn.”
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott, Cheyenne Haslett, Sarah Lang and Ariana Nalty
