Official Email Urges Federal Workers to Find More Productive Jobs

Late on Thursday, the most difficult day that Federal Aviation Administration employees had faced in decades, they received an email from government personnel officials, reiterating an offer from earlier this week to resign.In a mass email sent to federal employees just before 8:30 p.m.— almost exactly 24 hours after an air crash in Washington that killed 67 people — the Office of Personnel Management encouraged F.A.A.

workers, including air traffic controllers, to look for new jobs outside of government, where they might have an opportunity to be more productive.“We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so,” stated the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times.“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 message, in the form of “F.A.Q.s” — or Frequently Asked Questions — suggested that if the employees agreed to depart, they could take a second job or travel to their “dream destination” while still on the public payroll for months before leaving permanently.

But employees have been informed over the years that it is illegal for them to take a second job while working for the federal government, raising questions about whether the government can deliver on that offer.It also came after President Trump, in public comments, blamed efforts to diversify the air traffic controller work force as a contributor to the crash, saying hiring standards had been too lax.He provided no evidence for his assertions about air traffic controllers, a field plagued for years by staffing shortages.A wide array of federal workers, including at the Homeland Security Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Justice Department, said they had received the email.

But its tone and timing hit hard at the F.A.A., current and former employees said, given its proximity...