Rear Adm. Scott Gray, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central, front right, walks through Midtown at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily during a familiarization tour on Oct. 28, 2020. (Kegan E. Kay/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — Conflicting emails sent to some Defense Department overseas civilian employees in the past two days have created new headaches amid the choice posed to the federal workforce in a White House buyout offer.
On Wednesday, some civilian workers assigned to Navy Region Europe Africa Central received an email saying that DOD employees are exempt from the offer, which promises that eligible federal personnel who resign by Feb. 6 will receive full pay and benefits for eight months.
A day later, a message reversing the first email was sent to those same employees, indicating that they are in fact eligible to take the offer.
Copies of the emails were sent to Stars and Stripes from civilian employees, who received them from a NAVEURAFCENT human resources director.
Both emails were sent to civilian employees within the command in anticipation of questions, said Cmdr. David Gardner, a spokesman for NAVEURAF.
The command includes Navy bases in Naples and Sicily in Italy, Spain, the Greek island of Crete, Romania, Poland, Djibouti and Bahrain. It wasn’t clear how many civilian staffers in the command had received the emails.
The initial email “contained the latest guidance received from the Office of Civilian Human Resources,” Gardner said, adding that “updated and corrected guidance” had subsequently been shared.
A civilian employee, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the emails added to recipients’ frustrations.
“It’s executed so poorly. … There is no guidance, no one to ask even basic questions, no counseling, no nothing,” the worker said.
Wednesday’s emails to Navy civilian workers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East came on the heels of a memo sent to millions of federal workers on Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency.
The memo informed workers that the federal government would begin subjecting all employees to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and included the buyout offer with the condition it was accepted by Feb. 6.
But some accompanying information, such as exceptions for military personnel of the armed forces and positions related to national security, seemed to cast doubt on whether DOD workers are eligible for the offer.
On Thursday, the Office of Personnel Management clarified in an email to Stars and Stripes that DOD civilian workers aren’t considered military personnel. But it also said federal agencies could “carve out their own exceptions,” meaning some employees could be excluded.
The emails from the command in Naples are the latest example of the struggles the services are facing to quickly interpret and implement a slew of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump, some aimed at reshaping the military.
Trump’s Jan. 20 order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs in DOD prompted the Air Force to exclude videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, from its training programs. After public outcry, the videos were reinstated.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican and a Navy veteran, said Thursday that he supports the buyout offer to federal employees and an executive order directing them to end telework arrangements and return to the office.
Gonzales was in Germany on Thursday to observe a NATO exercise in Hohenfels led by U.S. Army Europe-Africa.
Hiccups are to be expected given the administration’s fast pace, which likely won’t slow down soon, Gonzales said.
“What you’re going to see is the services are going to keep pace, (are) going to adapt like they always do and they’re going to match that intensity, that speed,” Gonzales said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Lydia Gordon in Germany contributed to this report.
