Fairfax County has more than 50,000 federal employees, according to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. Virginia's two U.S. Senators, Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D), represent residents in Fairfax County and the rest of the Commonwealth.
Fear and uncertainty threaded throughout the Fairfax County federal workforce after an unexpected email with the subject line "Fork in the Road" arrived in their employee email inboxes on Jan. 28, as it reportedly did nationwide for over 2 million federal employees. The offer was to keep their job, align with new reforms, work in the office, or type Resign in the subject line and hit send. Employees were offered eight months of pay and benefits while on leave if they did so.
Reading an open letter to federal workers that he shared on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Feb. 4, Kaine told the federal employees that he understood things are tough.
“The Trump Administration has made plain that it wants to kick you around — by blocking your ability to administer federal resources, censoring your free speech, locking you out of your work buildings,” Kaine said.
He cautioned, "Donald Trump has no authority to offer you a resignation buyout. Don't trust a guy with a long history of stiffing contractors by taking him up on a sham deal he won't follow through on." The full text of the letter is available at https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/video-kaine-issues-open-letter-to-federal-workers-urging-strength-promising-support.
The Pew Research Center reports that the average annual pay across the federal workforce is $106,382. Half of all federal workers reportedly make between $50,000 and $109,999 annually.
Warner said on Facebook that “people are starting to understand what's at stake.”
“More people are standing up and speaking out. I hope that will ultimately creep into some of my Republican friends … . We're in the fight, and at the end of the day, we're going to come out okay,” Warner said.
On Thursday, Feb. 6, U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. temporarily suspended the Office of Personnel Management's federal worker buyout offer deadline. Federal workers had until Monday, Feb. 10, at 11:59 p.m. to decide whether to resign with pay through the end of September, OPM said in a social media post.
The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) reports, “Though the executive order issued recently claims to prevent politically motivated dismissals, without strong protections in place, these assurances remain empty. The lack of enforceable safeguards leaves federal employees vulnerable to politically motivated actions that could threaten their careers and the effectiveness of our government.”
NARFE instructs people to contact their legislators and urge them to support the Saving the Civil Service Act, H.R. 492/S.134. “This important legislation would block the return of Schedule F, safeguarding the merit-based principles that have long been the foundation of a professional, nonpartisan federal workforce,” NARFE says.
