Response to the agency’s voluntary separation program (VSP) will result in some 250 employees leaving the agency by year-end, and payroll and contract savings of about $75 million that will be realized in 2026, agency staff said during Thursday’s open meeting of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board.
The meeting, with Chairman Kyle Hauptman (R) now the only board member, included a briefing on the VSP as approved by the agency’s then-three-member board during a closed meeting in March. (The president last month terminated Democrats Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka from their board posts, and the two are suing to get those jobs back. Harper is also a former chairman. The agency has meanwhile said it holds that Hauptman, as the lone board member, constitutes a quorum.)
The staff reduction is being carried out in compliance with Executive Order 14210 issued by President Donald Trump (R), which called for staff reductions across the executive branch and a freeze on new hiring. NCUA staff said that once the freeze is lifted, it will limit new hires under the order to one employee for every four that depart. Such hiring, staff said in its prepared presentation, will occur “only in highest need areas consistent with desired future state for organizational structure.”
The agency said Thursday that the VSP will result in a reduction of 30.7% of its central office staff and 20.3% of staff from its regional offices and ONES (Office of National Examinations and Supervision).
The agency’s VSP had two components, the NCUA Deferred Resignation Program (NDRP) and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) for retirement-eligible employees, it reported.
To date, 152 employees have been placed on paid administrative leave under the NDRP until they officially separate from the agency no later than Dec. 31. Remaining NDRP participants will start their administrative leave in coming weeks and months. The agency’s VSIP option offered a separation incentive payment of $50,000 to employees who are, or will become, regular retirement eligible and who separate from the agency by Dec. 31.
Hauptman, in prepared comments for the meeting, indicated credit unions may get some of their money back under next year’s savings. “Beyond that, in January we’ll be able to fill holes at NCUA with technology, contractors, and new hires,” he said.
This year’s budget for the agency provides for 1,255 approved positions. There were 1,214 staff as of January, which was down to 1,203 in May. Following the expected departures under the agency’s voluntary separation program, the agency expects to have 953 staff remaining – down 21.5% from the total in January and 24.1% from the budgeted total.
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