Reduction-In-Force (RIF) initiatives in the Federal Government and USPS.
The Federal Government, including the United States Postal Service (USPS), is looking for innovative ways to ‘right-size’ government. The Federal Government is the largest employer in the world and just like the rest of the country, it needs to tighten its purse strings. The United States Postal Service sent out early retirement offers to more than 15,000 employees, many of them supervisors in 2013. Persons accepting the offer had to leave the rolls by December 31, 2013 or January 31, 2014.
The strategy was used to avoid a possible layoff often achieved via a Reduction-in-Force (RIF). RIFs have a number of guidelines and procedures. The law provides that RIF guidelines consider tenure and type of employment, length of service, veterans’ preference and performance rating when releasing employees. When conducting RIFs many organizations fail to articulate that one of the goals of a RIF should be placement where possible, particularly for personnel not eligible for retirement. RIFs are generally conducted for two reasons: reorganization and/or budgetary concerns.
During the course of a RIF an agency abolishes positions, some encumbered and some unencumbered (filled and unfilled). The guidelines governing RIFs are found in Title 5, CFR, Part 351. RIFs are very involved procedures and must be approached with the greatest degree of integrity. With that said, the USPS did not set a goal as to how many employees might accept the early retirement offer, 15,580 employees however were identified. Don’t let that statement frighten you or make you feel that you were targeted. Not at all. RIFs are legal procedures and not a situation where you are being chosen or targeted. The 15,580 identified employees were employees eligible for retirement.
The 15,580 employees were identified from the ranks of executive and administrative staff that included managers, supervisors and local postmasters. Voluntary Early Retirement gives employees the option of taking an early retirement sometimes a financial incentive is offered.  However, the Postal Service announced that individuals who accepted the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) would not receive any financial incentive to leave, but rather would be allowed to collect their retirement annuity earlier.
USPS Should Check LiteBlue
USPS has already cut its 500,000 staff by 200,000 over the past few years and still needs to trim another 100,000 in order to right-size the organization and gain financial stability. However, when early retirements or early outs are offered, make sure you analyze the situation with your family to decide if the option is right for you.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
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