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Mayes warns Arizona's federal employees against accepting Trump's resignation offer

Kris Mayes
Gage Skidmore/CC BY 2.0
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes has a warning for the 30,000 federal employees living in Arizona: Don’t trust a resignation offer from the Trump administration.

Mayes and attorneys general from 11 other states argue there’s no guarantee that President Donald Trump and his allies will honor a promise to retain pay and benefits for employees who agree to what the administration is calling a “deferred resignation.”

Part of an effort to whittle away at the federal workforce, an email from the Office of Personal Management claims workers who resign will “retain all pay and benefits” through Sept. 30.

A spokesman for Mayes says it’s possible the administration can’t keep that promise.

“The federal government is only currently funded through March 14,” said Mayes spokesman Ritchie Taylor. “Congress hasn’t appropriated funds beyond that. So the idea that this may be honored through Sept. 30 is something to seriously consider.”

Taylor warned that mass resignations in the state would also negatively impact services everyday Arizonans rely on.

Trump gave federal workers until Feb. 6 to accept the offer.

More Arizona politics news

Ben Giles is a senior editor at KJZZ.