Many federal employees are seeing a familiar email land in their inboxes, as several agencies revive the option for employees to voluntarily leave their jobs in exchange for a few months of pay.

The departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Small Business Administration and the General Services Administration, have all restarted their deferred resignation programs, Federal News Network has confirmed.

The “fork in the road” relaunch at those seven agencies comes at the same time many agencies are beginning to take on plans for conducting reductions in force (RIFs).

The Department of Agriculture said its second round of the deferred resignation program mirrors the original offer from the Office of Personnel Management. USDA is extending the option to both permanent and term employees, including those in their probationary periods, the agency wrote Monday in an all-staff email, obtained by Federal News Network.

USDA employees who apply and are granted an offer of deferred resignation will be put on administrative leave sometime between April 15 and April 30, the agency said. Employees who take the offer would retain all pay and benefits until Sept. 30 and would be exempt from return-to-office requirements.

Similar to the first round of the “fork in the road” offers, USDA said employees who choose to resign will have to apply and sign paperwork before their resignation will be accepted. Certain employees in “critical” positions may not be able to take the offer.

“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved and streamlined federal workforce,” USDA wrote in its email to staff. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding which positions will remain — or where they will be located — after USDA’s restructuring, but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”

Employees at USDA have until April 8 to make their decisions.

“USDA is being transparent about plans to optimize and reduce our workforce and to return the department to a customer service focused, farmer first agency,” an agency spokesperson told Federal News Network. “By offering a deferred resignation program, we’re giving employees the opportunity to take control of their next step in federal service before any changes take place.”

A ‘fork in the road’ for Energy, DOT, HUD

At the Department of Energy, agency leadership indicated that the relaunch of the deferred resignation program was one strategy involved in its workforce reduction plans, according to an email obtained by Federal News Network.

“To mitigate the effect of potential involuntary separations, I am immediately instituting a DOE deferred resignation program, which allows for employees to take needed time for future planning while continuing to be paid through the designated period,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday in the all-staff email.

DOE employees who take the offer will continue to be paid, accrue leave, earn benefits, receive Thrift Savings Plan contributions and service credit toward retirement until separation, according to the email.

But DOE employees working in public safety, national security, law enforcement or other “essential” positions, may not be able to qualify for the program, the agency added.

The second round of the deferred resignation offers at DOE began on Monday and employees have until April 8 to choose whether to accept it.

And at the Department of Transportation, an agency spokesperson similarly described the relaunch of the deferred resignation program as a “second chance to voluntarily leave,” but added that employees who work in “safety-critical functions” will be unable to take the resignation offer.

“This is just one part of our effort to make DOT more efficient and accountable to the taxpayer,” the spokesperson said by email.

At the end of January, the White House offered most of the governmentwide federal workforce the option to resign from their positions in exchange for eight months of pay. The initial offer led to roughly 75,000 federal employees taking the “fork in the road” option, according to OPM.

The resignations from the initial program amounted to 3% of the total federal workforce, which falls short of the White House’s expectations that between 5% and 10% of federal employees would accept the offer.

Many federal employment attorneys and unions, however, have scrutinized the deferred resignation program and questioned agencies’ ability to guarantee pay and benefits through the end of September. The initial deadline for the governmentwide version of the program was also delayed by about a week after litigation put it on hold. 

Following the Feb. 12 deadline of the deferred resignation program, the Trump administration began laying off tens of thousands of probationary federal employees, while also directing agencies to begin putting together RIF and reorganization plans. The Office of Management and Budget said the plans should detail strategies for reducing headcount, as well as any intentions to relocate agency offices outside the D.C. area. 

At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, during the initial version of the “fork in the road” offer, 7.4% of HUD employees chose to resign, according to the agency. But after the governmentwide deferred resignation offer expired, HUD leaders said they began hearing from employees who “wish they had taken it.”

“The program provided federal workers with flexibility for those looking to change careers or retire,” HUD wrote Monday in a social media post on X. “HUD is launching a second ‘fork in the road’ program for those who wish to start a new path.”

HUD’s relaunch of the deferred resignation program gives employees until April 11 to make their decision. The agency did not respond to Federal News Network’s request for comment.

Deferred resignation options for DoD, GSA, SBA

The Defense Department similarly reopened its “fork in the road” offer on Friday, while also continuing options for employees to take incentives for early retirements or voluntary separations.

“The net effect will be a reduction in the number of civilian full-time equivalent positions, and increased resources in the areas where we need them most,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a March 28 memo.

The renewed “fork in the road” offer for DoD employees expires April 11.

The Small Business Administration and the General Services Administration also both reopened their deferred resignation offers, Federal News Network reported Monday.

The two agencies similarly promised the same pay and benefits guarantees to employees who choose to accept the deferred resignation offers. GSA’s deadline for the deferred resignation program is April 18, while SBA’s deadline is April 7.

of significantly reducing staff headcounts. GSA is attempting to reduce its total spending across all programs and personnel by 50%. By comparison, SBA plans to cut its workforce by 43%, but said it will only seek a limited number of layoffs through a nonvoluntary RIF.

Both GSA and SBA — like many other agencies — are also continuing to offer early retirements and voluntary separation incentives to employees.