When I graduated from law school, I knew I wanted to practice labor law.  But I also knew I didn’t want to work 80-90 hours per week for a law firm.  That’s just not my style; life is too short and I had too many other things I wanted to be able to do with my life.  Yes, money is obviously important, but it’s not the end-all-be-all for me.  So, that significantly limited my job options.  When the Federal Labor Relations Authority posted the job in Atlanta, I jumped on it.  At the time, I was still living in Atlanta, but was only working part-time for a local attorney, and was about to run out of money.  If I didn’t find something permanent, I’d have to move back to Boca Raton with the ‘rents (and, in all honesty, that was not even an option.  I didn’t come that far to just quit and go back to Mom and Dad).  

After stressing out over the summer, continuously wondering, I finally found out that I got the job, and started working in October 1997. When I took the job, I had no idea how the politics worked, and how entrenched I would be in them. The change in Presidential administrations, and the changes in people that are in charge of those administrations, is rough. Historically, Democratic administrations are more employee and labor-friendly.  Since the FLRA governs the relationship between federal employees, Unions and the federal agencies, a Democratic President means more funding for us, along with a decision-making body that is ⅔ Democratic, which means case law that is more sympathetic to the Unions and employees (sympathetic is probably the wrong word, but it’s the only one I can think of right now).  

On the other hand, a Republican administration is usually anti-labor, and thus anti-the FLRA. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to say that Democrats should rule the world; I’m just pointing out what most people don’t know: a change in Presidents brings about upheaval in the world of a federal employee. It’s very stressful; there have been many times when I’d come into the office in the morning, not knowing if I still had a job. Under the first Trump Administration, 2 of our regional offices were closed, causing people to have to move to another city to be able to keep their jobs, or take early retirements. 

Three weeks ago, things got really bad. Not only did the Administration revoke all telework and remote work agreements, but they offered us a “delayed resignation,” promising to pay people through the end of September 2025 if they agree to resign from their position. This concerned me for 2 reasons. First, the federal gov’t is currently only funded through the middle of March–there is no allocation of funds past that date, and there is no way to allocate any funds. Second, the offer didn’t include an option for an early retirement. If it is offered by your agency, then a federal employee can take an early retirement if they are over 50 with at least 20 years of service, or at any age with at least 25 years of service. I am 53 with 26.5 years of service, so I qualify. 

About 2 weeks ago, the Administration added the VERA option to the deferred resignation, which caused me to seriously think about taking it. Why? Because I’m only 4.5 years away from a “full” retirement, and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my pension and my very good health insurance. Important point: if I get separated or caught up in a reduction in force, then I completely lose that insurance, and only get a very small part of my pension at age 62.  

Additionally, I am one of those remote employees, and my agency told me earlier this week that I would have to report back to the Denver office. A bit of backstory here: for the past 1.5 yrs, I’ve been working for the Chicago office. I actually asked for a reassignment because of the toxic work environment in the Denver office (a story for another day). There was no way in hell I was going back to that office. 

Sooooo… on the evening of February 12, I responded to the Administration’s Fork email, and said “resign and retire.” It was so surreal; I couldn’t believe I did it. Technically, I can’t afford to retire because we still have a mortgage. My plan all along was to work until I was 60, because that’s when I’d calculated that the mortgage would be paid off.  Understand me, guys: mortgage in retirement was NEVER an option for me and Lars. But again, I couldn’t risk losing my retirement benefits. And I have quite a bit saved up in my 401(K), so if I have to dip into it for a short period, so be it. My last day of work is March 14.

I’m currently working on Plan B and Plan C. Plan B is to become an arbitrator (something that’s always been on my radar), and Plan C is to get another job in the private sector. I’ve already applied for at least 10 jobs- there were definitely more available in labor relations than I ever thought, so that’s a bright spot. I will keep applying, and will pray that the right person sees my resume and says: I must have her working for me.  

I will keep you guys updated as things move forward, so keep checking back here. Thanks for your support, and for reading. 

Paige 💗