After public backlash and union pushback, the Trump administration is moving forward with a sweeping buyout program offering federal workers eight months of pay if they resign by February 6. The move, announced Tuesday in a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is an aggressive effort to shrink the government and reshape the federal workforce.

The email, sent to more than 2 million employees with the subject line "fork in the road," has been widely criticized as a pressure tactic. It states that workers who accept the buyout will remain on paid administrative leave until September 30, while those who stay could face job insecurity, potential reclassification as at-will employees, and even furloughs.

The memo enforces a return to office policy, also ending remote work for most federal employees. Trump's OPM has also scrapped Biden-era protections for federal employees.

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