Judge pauses buyouts for federal employees
By: Maureen Gropps
and Josy Garrison
USA Today
..... A federal judge on Thursday [02/06/2025] paused the Trump administration's deadline for more than 2 million federal employees to decide by the end of the day where to resign or stay in their jobs in order to allow time for labor unions to challenge the plan's legality.
.....
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston issued a temporary restraining order and set a hearing for Monday. [02/10/2025]
..... The Trump administration's lawyers had argued that extending the deadline on the last day would "markedly disrupt the expectations of the Federal workforce, inject tremendous uncertainty into a program hat scores of federal employers have already availed themselves of, and hinder the administration's effort to reform the federal workforce."
.....
Unions representing many of the nation's federal workers charge that the new Republican administration's "unprecedented offer" violates the law.
..... "We will continue to aggressively defend our members' rights," said Everett Kelley president of the American Federation of Government employees, one of the unions challenging the offer.
..... Workers were given barely more than a week to accept the administration's blanket buyout, which union officials say did not appear to have followed federal procedures for reducing the size of the workforce.
..... Federal employees were told they would receive eight months of pay and benefits through September [2025] if they resigned by Thursday. [02/06/2025]
..... But Congress hasn't approved funding for federal agencies past March 14. [2025] Democrats in Congress have warned federal workers not to accept the offer, citing this and their lack of trust in Trump to deliver the payments.
.....
Unions have warned workers considering Trump's offer that there's no guarantee the president can or will stick to it. They've also said the offer lacks basic information about whether they might still be required to work for the government; whether they can get a private-sector job while still being paid by the federal government; and how their pension, helaht insurance and other benefits and rights would be affected.
..... Critics have said the administration goal is to make working for the federal government so unpleasant that employees will be driven out.
..... The administration on Tuesday [02/04/2025] warned federal employees could be furloughed if they do not accept the buyout and that" "the majority of federal agencies will be downsized," with the Defense Department as an exception.
..... Federal workers who stay in their jobs have been told they must return to in-person work, embrace new "performance standards" and be "reliable, loyal and trustworthy" in their work, among other new "reforms" across the government.
..... Trump is pushing both to dramatically shrink the size of government and replace bureaucrats his team has perceived as hostile to his agenda with loyalists.
..... The offer came in a surprise email that hit inboxes at 6:04 on January 28 [2025] with the subject line: "The Fork in the Road."