- A Department of Energy employee took the federal government's "fork in the road" offer.
- He said the resignation process was rushed. He's doubtful he'll be paid through September, as promised.
- Some 75,000 federal workers have accepted the deferred resignation program, the administration said.
When a program manager at the Department of Energy received the Trump administration's "fork in the road" resignation offer, his first reaction was defiance.
"My initial thought process was, 'I am not going to do this because I don't want to let them win. They can fire me, but I'm not leaving,'" the DOE program manager told Business Insider, adding that they wanted to stay and protect a clean energy program they oversaw. "But it became pretty demoralizing and clear that wasn't a realistic option."
The DOE employee said they decided to take the buyout offer — known as deferred resignation — in February after his eight-person team was "decimated" and it seemed unlikely that the department's career leadership could shield employees from President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to slash the federal workforce and eliminate climate- and DEI-related programs.
The DOE employee requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation. BI verified the DOE employee's identity and also viewed their signed deferred resignation agreement.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, about 75,000 federal workers had accepted the offer as of February 13. That's about 3.75% of the federal workforce, shy of the White House's goal of 5% to 10%. Since then agencies have fired thousands of workers, mainly probationary employees who have been hired or promoted in the last two years — moves that have attracted legal challenges.
The DOE employee said he was impressed by how many federal workers wanted to stay in their jobs because they care about public service. He worried that the Trump administration's gutting of federal agencies would fuel their narrative that the government is inefficient and ineffective, a view he disagreed with.
"Trump and Musk are creating those conditions by removing staff and pausing grants and requiring them to remove all the DEI efforts," the DOE employee said. "Before, things were functioning decently well."
3 strikes and he's out
The beginning of the Trump administration brought three events that tipped the scales for this DOE employee.
First, right after the inauguration, Trump signed executive orders that paused his team's work because it paused funding authorized by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Those two laws are former President Joe Biden's landmark climate accomplishments.
Second was what he saw as mistreatment of his colleagues. The DOE fired probationary employees on his team who'd been on the job less than a year. Even if their work resumed in the coming months, the DOE employee said he's not sure there'd be enough staff to implement it. The DOE employee also disagreed with directives to remove pronouns from federal e-mail signatures.
"I wasn't willing to do that because it created a hostile work environment for the people who worked for me," he said.
Finally, the DOE employee is remote and thought he would eventually be fired if he refused to return to the office as directed by Trump's executive order.
'I'm almost positive I won't get paid through September'
The DOE employee described the deferred resignation process as rushed and lacking clear guidance.
He submitted his request to the Office of Personnel Management and then signed a four-page agreement with the DOE. The agreement said he would be placed on administrative leave until September 30 and be paid his current salary, "subject to the availability of appropriations."
The DOE employee said he didn't know he had to request administrative leave until he had already been locked out of federal computer systems. His last day was Feb 21, and his pay is bi-weekly. His first paycheck for administrative leave should arrive in the coming weeks.
"I'm questioning whether the administration will fulfill the agreement," the DOE employee said. "I am almost positive that I will not get paid through September."
'It's a tough job market'
The DOE employee said he plans to start applying for jobs in case the Trump administration doesn't hold up the agreement.
But that presents other risks. The deferred resignation agreement requires federal workers who take another job to get approval from the Ethics Counsel regarding "outside activity," and the DOE employee said it's unclear whether those requests will be approved.
Ideally, he could find a position in clean energy that pays a similar amount as his federal job so he could leave the deferred resignation program altogether. The DOE employee falls on a payscale ranging from $123,000 to nearly $160,000 a year.
"I think it's a tough job market," the DOE employee said, adding that clean energy companies and organizations might not be hiring right now given the Trump administration's attacks and the uncertainty about grant funding.
"The prospects of working in clean energy — the thing I care about — seem terrible at the moment."
The DOE employee said many companies and nonprofits are also still waiting for their federal grant funding to be unfrozen.
"It's an anxious time," he said. "Where can I go that takes advantage of my skills but also has some sort of longevity?"
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