The agency’s approximately 80,000 employees received an unsigned email Friday night offering them a “voluntary separation incentive payment,” with a deadline to respond set for Friday, March 14. The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, during an interview on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he had a “generic list” of staffers at the department he’d like to see removed. “If you’ve been involved in good science, you have got nothing to worry about,” Kennedy said. “If you care about public health, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If you’re in there working for the pharmaceutical industry, then I’d say you should move out and work for the pharmaceutical industry.”

Federal workers with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are being offered buyouts from the agency as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to reduce the government workforce. The HHS buyouts are termed Voluntary Incentive Payments and range up to $25,000, Bloomberg reported, citing an internal email to employees from the Office of Personnel Management. Employees can accept the offer during a window that opens Monday and closes Friday. The offer is being extended to a "broad population of HHS employees," according to Bloomberg.

Most of the 80,000 federal workers responsible for researching diseases, inspecting food and administering Medicare and Medicaid under the auspices of the Health and Human Services Department were emailed an offer to leave their job for as much as a $25,000 payment as part of President Donald Trump's government cuts. The workers have until 5 p.m. on Friday to submit a response for the so-called voluntary separation offer. The email was sent to staff across the department, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and the National Institutes of Health as well as the Food and Drug Administration, both in Maryland. The mass email went out to a “broad population of HHS employees," landing in their inboxes days before agency heads are due to offer plans for shrinking their workforces.