DOE: Resignation offer ‘valid, lawful’

By Hannah Northey | 01/31/2025 01:44 PM EST

A top Energy Department official Friday moved to assure staff that the agency will uphold the White House’s offers for “deferred resignations.”

The Department of Energy building.

Ingrid Kolb, the Department of Energy's acting secretary, said federal employees could trust the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer. John Shinkle/POLITICO

Leadership at the Energy Department on Friday moved to reassure employees that a governmentwide resignation offer is “valid, lawful, and will be honored by DOE,” according to a memo obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.

Ingrid Kolb, the agency’s acting secretary, told staff in the memo that the Office of Personnel Management offer sent on Jan. 28 for “deferred resignation” can be trusted.

“On behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE), I am informing you that the offer is valid, lawful, and will be honored by DOE,” Kolb wrote. “If you accept the deferred resignation offer, you will receive pay and benefits through September 30, 2025, and will not be subject to a reduction-in-force or other premature separation.”

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The Trump administration’s proposal for civil servants to leave their posts has triggered swift and far-reaching pushback across the federal government, with some DOE staffers dismissing the offer as a ploy. “No one trusts it, and it’s just not happening,” said one DOE staffer who was granted anonymity to speak freely. “No one I know is taking the bait here.”

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