More than 1,800 EPA employees have so far signed up to leave the agency through two “early out” programs, with more applications certain to come before a Friday deadline.
As of Thursday morning, 1,817 eligible staffers had applied for either the deferred resignation or the voluntary early retirement options offered late last month, spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in an email.
That total amounts to more than 10 percent of the agency’s workforce. Their departures will come on top of about another 545 employees who took advantage of the first round of the deferred resignation program unveiled earlier this year.
Staffers who choose that route will go on administrative leave until the end of September. EPA is encouraging them to decamp as part of a broader governmentwide downsizing campaign driven by the White House.
