人事管理局向联邦雇员发出「岔路口」邮件：2月6日前可选择延期辞职、薪酬福利保留到9月30日
2025年1月28日，美国联邦人事管理局（OPM）向行政部门雇员群发了一封题为「岔路口」（Fork in the Road）的电子邮件，向不愿在特朗普政府改革后的联邦队伍中继续任职的雇员提供一条延期辞职通道：接受者可保留全部薪酬与福利、免于到岗办公要求，直到2025年9月30日才正式离职。据当时报道，这是OPM首次利用新系统向约200万名联邦文职雇员一次性群发邮件。
邮件先交代了改革的背景：特朗普就任首周已要求雇员恢复到岗办公、恢复对政策制定岗位与高级职业官员的问责、改革以绩效为本的招聘。邮件称，改革后的联邦队伍将围绕四根支柱重建：其一，绝大多数远程办公者须每周五天回到实体办公室，办公室本身还可能整合与搬迁；其二，绩效文化，达不到高标准者将被公平公开地处理；其三，队伍更精简灵活，多数机构将通过重组与裁员缩小规模，可能动用停薪留职与将大量雇员转为随意雇佣（at-will）状态；其四，提高行为标准，违法或失当者将被优先调查与处分，包括解雇。
对选择留下者，邮件表示欢迎，但坦言无法对其职位或所在机构的存续给出完全保证；若职位被裁撤，将得到有尊严的对待与既有保障。对选择离开者，邮件提供的辞职信文本写明：辞职自2025年9月30日生效，接受者可提前但不可延后；等待离职期间免于返岗要求、维持现有薪酬并保留全部既有福利，包括退休累计；雇主机构可能据此调整、取消或合并其岗位职责，或将其置于带薪行政休假直至离职日。
接受方式很简单：用政府邮箱回复这封邮件，在正文输入Resign（辞职）一词并发送。延期辞职向全体全职联邦雇员开放，但不包括武装部队军人、美国邮政雇员、从事移民执法与国家安全相关岗位者，以及被所在机构另行排除的岗位。邮件注明的接受截止日为2025年2月6日。
这封邮件在联邦雇员中引发巨大反响。邮件发出之时，联邦队伍改革已是特朗普就任首周最受关注的国内议程之一，数以百万计的雇员须在十天内作出去留决定。
（来源：人事管理局）
OPM Sends 'Fork in the Road' Email to Federal Employees: Resign by February 6 and Keep Pay and Benefits Through September 30
On January 28, 2025, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent a mass email titled Fork in the Road to executive-branch employees, offering those unwilling to continue under the Trump administration's reformed federal workforce a deferred resignation option: employees who accepted would retain all pay and benefits and be exempt from in-person work requirements until their resignation took effect on September 30, 2025. Contemporary reporting described it as the first mass email sent at once to roughly two million federal civilian employees through OPM's new system.
The email first set out the background: in his first week, President Trump had required employees to return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees in policy-making roles and for senior career executives, and reformed federal hiring to focus on merit. The reformed workforce, it said, would be built around four pillars: first, return to office — the substantial majority of employees working remotely since Covid would have to return to physical offices five days a week, and offices themselves could be consolidated or relocated; second, a performance culture, with standards updated to reward excellence and to address, fairly and openly, those who did not meet them; third, a more streamlined and flexible workforce, with most agencies likely to be downsized through restructurings and reductions in force, possibly including furloughs and reclassification of a substantial number of employees to at-will status; and fourth, enhanced standards of conduct, under which unlawful behavior or misconduct would be prioritized for investigation and discipline, including termination.
For those who stayed, the email said their renewed focus on serving the American people was welcome, but it could not give full assurance regarding the certainty of their position or agency, though anyone whose position was eliminated would be treated with dignity and afforded existing protections. For those who left, the attached resignation letter stated that resignation would be effective September 30, 2025, could be accelerated but not extended, and that in the interim the employee would be exempt from return-to-office requirements, maintain current compensation and retain all existing benefits, including retirement accruals, while the agency could reassign, eliminate or consolidate the position and duties or place the employee on paid administrative leave until the resignation date.
Accepting was simple: reply to the email from a government account, type the word Resign in the body, and send. Deferred resignation was available to all full-time federal employees except military personnel of the armed forces, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, and positions specifically excluded by an employing agency. The deadline stated in the email for accepting the offer was February 6, 2025.
The email drew an enormous response across the federal workforce. With workforce reform among the most closely watched domestic agendas of Trump's first week, millions of employees faced a decision about their future within ten days.
(Source: Office of Personnel Management)
来源：人事管理局
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于华盛顿的联邦人事管理局总部大楼正立面与入口。（G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons） / Photo: The headquarters building of the Office of Personnel Management in Washington. (G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
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