Opinion | CDC Employees Respond to Trump’s Buyout Offer

In recent days, mass censorship at the CDC has been a focus. But another potential crisis is looming there — the prospect of mass firings. I was curious to learn how CDC employees see the next few days and weeks going. What I discovered in conversations with around half a dozen of them (of whom five are quoted below) was genuinely surprising — and in some cases encouraging and inspiring. I hope you’ll join me in supporting these deeply committed scientists by speaking out for them.

Most CDC Employees Not Fooled by Trump’s Buyout Offer

Last week, President Trump’s Office of Personnel Management offered millions of U.S. federal employees 8 months of compensation in exchange for their resignations. Since that time, scores of employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have been terminated, which many have interpreted as a warning shot meant to encourage mass capitulation at other agencies.

It’s not working as hoped, I learned. At the CDC, Trump’s gambit appears to have been a dud — at least so far among many committed rank-and-file employees. “I’m not taking the deferred resignation,” one career CDC official told me. “It’s an insult to public servants, honestly. We are here because we believe in the mission. This smacks of desperation.”

Another current CDC employee echoed that sentiment, saying that nobody they knew at the agency was seriously considering a deferred resignation. More pointedly, the employee agreed with a characterization of the administration’s offer as BS.

A third current full-time CDC employee’s description was consistent with the others. “Not among my circles,” that official said when asked if anyone they worked closely with was thinking about taking the offer. That official recounted that there had been some initial discussion about the “fork in the road deal,” but that it had quickly become clear that the deal was not legitimate, and key parts (including being paid after resignation) were possibly not legal. Organizations, including the Partnership for Public Service, have been holding webinars to educate and advise CDC employees, Inside Medicine was told. “We chatted about it this evening in one of my larger employee groups on Signal. No one stated they were interested.”

Since these conversations, the administration has sent a memo to staff indicating that layoffs across the federal government are “likely” after the buyout offer expires on Thursday, Feb. 6. This could influence some employees’ plans.

Some Employees in Distinct Circumstances May Take the Deal

There appear to be a few exceptions to the overall “meh” sentiment at the agency so far. One exception, it seems, may be employees who were recently hired, one of the sources told me. “A probationary employee or two are considering it,” one of the officials told me. Employees in their first year at the CDC are more easily removed, making it a potentially bigger gamble for those individuals to spurn the offer. “It’s brutal,” the official said.

Another group of CDC employees more inclined to take the deal are remote workers who don’t live near CDC office buildings, mainly in Atlanta or Washington, D.C. The Trump administration has stated it wants to end most remote work. So, for CDC employees who were hired since 2020 and have always worked remotely, the writing could be on the wall. In that case, why not quit instead of being fired for not showing up, and take some free money in the meantime? “For me I am under threat because I’m remote,” a fourth CDC official I spoke to said. “They could fire me anyway. So what should I do?”

Yet another group of CDC officials considered more likely to take the offer are those who had already planned to leave the agency for another job, or to retire soon. A fifth CDC employee who recently accepted a “dream job” outside of the CDC is still deciding what to do. Ironically, if this CDC official takes the offer, they’ll be getting paid to quit. (They already having another job lined up.) This would end up costing the government money, rather than saving it, as this employee was planning to resign regardless of the offer. Why not take the free money? It boils down to the fine print in the contract, the official said. “What happens if I make this deal with the devil?” that official wondered aloud, a sentiment reflecting their complete lack of trust toward the new administration.

Trump Administration Scrambling to Make the Offer Enticing

Indeed, the administration had hoped that millions of federal employees would quickly jump at the offer. So far, it hasn’t happened.

Part of that, according to one of the employees, is a “bad taste” left by the original announcement.

“That productivity line was not well-received,” that official said, referencing an administration document that invited federal workers to leave “lower productivity jobs in the public sector [for] higher productivity jobs in the private sector.” CDC officials don’t think of themselves as “low-productivity.”

Since that gaffe, the administration has updated its list of frequently asked questions about the offer on several occasions, attempting to “sweeten the deal,” one of the officials said. These efforts included a recent email seeking to assure federal employees that, despite widespread concerns, the contracts would be valid and honored, even if the government were to have a shutdown.

Still, intense skepticism remains. Elon Musk was sued when, after buying Twitter, ex-employees said he didn’t pay them severance packages that were owed. CDC employees apparently remember that news cycle.

So, while the rates of uptake for the administration’s deferred resignation plans have been low so far, some employees may still take the offer. “They keep adding to the FAQs to try to convince people to sign up,” the remote worker told me.

An Unexpected Consequence: Some CDC Scientists Consider Unionization

The Trump administration’s general attack on various assets within the public health system has had one unintended effect, Inside Medicine learned: some CDC scientists and medical providers are considering unionizing.

“The administration definitely doesn’t want that to happen,” one of the CDC sources told me. While some CDC employees are already unionized (and others are covered by different collective bargaining agreements), many are not, including some scientific officers at the agency. Depending on contract details, some CDC employees are barred from unionizing (or from joining specific existing unions, like the American Federation of Government Employees), but not others.

“We were advised that we can still organize but need to form a different bargaining unit,” one non-unionized CDC scientist told me.

It appears that the fight is heating up…

A version of this article was originally published in Inside Medicine. This version differs slightly due to some updates since the time of that publication.

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