Scores of federal workers are questioning the integrity of the Trump-Musk "deferred resignation" offer after some who took the deal found themselves out in the cold anyway, according to new reporting in The Bulwark.
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency came up with the plan as part of the effort to cut trillions from the federal budget. Musk sent out the now infamous "Fork in the Road" email to federal workers offering "all pay and benefits" through the end of September if they agreed to resign. "But if they opted to keep their jobs, they could get fired," the article recounted.
One man who took the deal -- a retired Navy captain, who served as a regional chief of staff at FEMA -- told The Bulwark's Sam Stein he was skeptical of the offer at first, but figured his prospects for getting hired elsewhere were good while he still had the cushion of his government salary and benefits during his job search.
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Instead of receiving details on next steps, however, Scott Curtis was informed weeks later that he was being terminated anyway. "Despite having served 32 years in the Navy, Curtis had only recently joined FEMA—starting in July 2024—meaning he was still in a 'probationary' employment phase, during which he was easier to fire," the article said.
But no "probationary" caveat was presented to Curtis when he took the deal. "In fact, the guidance in that email was quite broad when it came to eligibility, stating that deferred resignation would be 'available to all full-time federal employees except for military personnel of the armed forces, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, and those in any other positions specifically excluded by your employing agency,'” The Bulwark reported.
“You spend as much time in the military as I did . . . taking care of your people is just fundamental to what you do," he told the publication. "And this seemed to be the opposite of that. It was just, you know, ‘Hey, we’re going to just lock you out of the building when you come in to get your coffee mug and, you know, just kick you to the curb.’”
When asked to respond to the "bait-and-switch" experienced by employees like Curtis, a White House spokesperson said in a statement, “President Trump and his administration are delivering on the American people’s mandate to eliminate wasteful spending and make federal agencies more efficient, which includes removing probationary employees who are not mission critical."
After his experience, Curtis said, “I don’t know who in their right mind would apply for a federal job right now. And the federal government does real work. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that I think the nation is going to find that isn’t happening.”