OPM Sends 'Fork in the Road' Email to Federal Employees: Resign by February 6 and Keep Pay and Benefits Through September 30
On January 28, 2025, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a mass email titled Fork in the Road to executive-branch employees, offering those unwilling to continue under the Trump administration's reformed federal workforce a deferred resignation option: employees who accepted would retain all pay and benefits and be exempt from in-person work requirements until their resignation took effect on September 30, 2025. Contemporary reporting described it as the first mass email sent at once to roughly two million federal civilian employees through OPM's new system.
The email first set out the background: in his first week, President Trump had required employees to return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees in policy-making roles and for senior career executives, and reformed federal hiring to focus on merit. The reformed workforce, it said, would be built around four pillars: first, return to office — the substantial majority of employees working remotely since Covid would have to return to physical offices five days a week, and offices themselves could be consolidated or relocated; second, a performance culture, with standards updated to reward excellence and to address, fairly and openly, those who did not meet them; third, a more streamlined and flexible workforce, with most agencies likely to be downsized through restructurings and reductions in force, possibly including furloughs and reclassification of a substantial number of employees to at-will status; and fourth, enhanced standards of conduct, under which unlawful behavior or misconduct would be prioritized for investigation and discipline, including termination.
For those who stayed, the email said their renewed focus on serving the American people was welcome, but it could not give full assurance regarding the certainty of their position or agency, though anyone whose position was eliminated would be treated with dignity and afforded existing protections. For those who left, the attached resignation letter stated that resignation would be effective September 30, 2025, could be accelerated but not extended, and that in the interim the employee would be exempt from return-to-office requirements, maintain current compensation and retain all existing benefits, including retirement accruals, while the agency could reassign, eliminate or consolidate the position and duties or place the employee on paid administrative leave until the resignation date.
Accepting was simple: reply to the email from a government account, type the word Resign in the body, and send. Deferred resignation was available to all full-time federal employees except military personnel of the armed forces, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, and positions specifically excluded by an employing agency. The deadline stated in the email for accepting the offer was February 6, 2025.
The email drew an enormous response across the federal workforce. With workforce reform among the most closely watched domestic agendas of Trump's first week, millions of employees faced a decision about their future within ten days.
(Source: Office of Personnel Management)
Source: Office of Personnel Management
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的联邦人事管理局总部大楼正立面与入口。（G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons） / Photo: The headquarters building of the Office of Personnel Management in Washington. (G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
