Just 24 hours after the worst U.S. aviation disaster in decades, employees at the Federal Aviation Administration received a mass email encouraging them to search for more productive jobs outside of government.
That’s according to a new report in The New York Times, which added that the email sent by the Office of Personnel Management just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday urged FAA employees – including air traffic controllers – to act on an offer to resign sent across federal agencies earlier in the week.
“We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so,” according to the email, which the Times reviewed. “The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.”
The email also suggested that federal employees could seek out a second job or even travel to a “dream destination” of their choice while still remaining on the government payroll for months before their permanent departure, the Times reported.
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But details about that offer remain murky as it has been relayed to employees throughout the years that taking a second job while employed by the federal government is not legal.
Employees throughout federal agencies, including Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Justice Department, reportedly also received the email.
But, as the Times noted, “its tone and timing hit hard at the F.A.A., current and former employees said, given its proximity to the fatal air crash that may have stemmed in part from reduced staffing.”
The email came as a follow-up to a proposal the federal workforce began receiving Tuesday offering them resignation buyouts, though some federal employees reported being skeptical of the offer, which some say created chaos.