The Air Force will start offering a third and final round of buyouts and early retirements to civilian employees on Monday.
In a Thursday release, the Air Force said the civilian cuts will help the service meet former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s order to slash headquarters staffs by 20 percent.
The voluntary early retirement authority, or VERA, and voluntary separation incentive pay, or VSIP, will focus mainly on civilians assigned to Air Force headquarters. The early outs and buyouts are only for civilians and not for airmen.
The Air Force is using VERA and VSIP to avoid having to resort to reductions in force, or layoffs.
“As in past years, we will continue to offer voluntary early retirement authority and voluntary separation incentive pay to the maximum extent possible before we implement a reduction in force,” Debra Warner, the Air Force’s director of civilian force policy, said in the release. “The Air Force is committed to sustaining excellence, meeting fiscal requirements and minimizing negative impacts on our current permanent civilian workforce and their families.”
Beginning June 15, civilians will receive surveys from their local civilian personnel sections to gauge their interest in buyouts or early outs, and they must respond by June 26.
If approved, civilians must retire or separate no later than Sept. 30.
“Our civilians are an integral part of our force, and their contributions are instrumental in our mission success,” Warner said. “Our challenge, in a fiscally constrained environment, is to maintain the ready and capable civilian force today and a modern workforce tomorrow.”
