Feb. 10 (UPI) — A federal judge extended a restraining order Monday on the Trump administration’s deadline for more than 2 million federal employees to accept a government buyout offer or return to in-person work.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued the temporary restraining order in Boston, with no timeline for a ruling on a preliminary injunction, saying only “until I respond to the issues presented.” The judge first paused the so-called deferred resignation plan on Thursday.
“I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called ‘Fork Directive’ pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues,” Judge O’Toole said Monday in his ruling. “I believe that’s as far as I want to go today.”
The Trump administration offered the eight-month deferred resignation to federal civilian employees nearly two weeks ago in an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road.” Remote work policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic had remained in place for many federal workers. Those who chose not to return to the office would receive full pay and benefits through September, provided they resigned by Feb. 6.
“The president required that employees return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees who have policy-making authority, restored accountability for senior career executives and reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit,” the memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management stated.
Employees would “retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until Sept. 30, 2025,” the memo added.
Military service members, postal workers, immigration officials and select workers in national security roles were exempt from the offer.
As of Friday, approximately 65,000 federal employees had signed up for the program as the Department of Government Efficiency — headed by Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk — works to shrink the federal workforce.
Three labor unions requested the restraining order to suspend the deferred resignation deadline. The American Federation of Government Employees, the National Association of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees argued the U.S. Office of Personnel Management violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires a legal basis for the buyout and assurances that the government will pay.
The unions also argue the buyout offer promises payments through September, while the continuing resolution to fund the government expires in March.
“They failed to consider the continued functioning of government,” lawyer Elena Goldstein said, as the legal team for the federal government fired back in Monday’s hearing.
“Nothing about the voluntary resignation changes anything about the federal government’s financial obligations. It just changes what employees are expected to do or not do during their period of employment,” countered DOJ attorney Eric Hamilton, who called the resignation offer a “humane off-ramp.”
During the hearing, Goldstein also pointed to worker chaos. She called the last two weeks “confusion that has rained for millions of career civil servants. This is a program of unprecedented magnitude that raises questions about the rationality of OPM’s decision-making.”
In response, the Department of Justice called the plaintiff’s argument “legally incoherent and at odds with their theory of the case,” adding that further delaying the buyout would cause even “more uncertainty” for federal workers.
“President Trump campaigned on a promise to reform the federal workforce,” Hamilton said, as he outlined Trump’s return-to-office executive order. “We understand these announcements may have come as a disappointment for some in the federal workforce.”