A US judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s buyout plan of offering incentives to federal workers to voluntarily resign, just hours before a midnight deadline on Thursday.
Federal Judge George O’Toole Jr issued the temporary halt pending a hearing on Monday, where he will determine the merits of a lawsuit filed by federal employee unions, according to reports.
Related To This: Trump Offers Mass Buyouts to Federal Workers In A Move To Shrink Gov’t
The offer is part of an ongoing Trump administration effort to reduce the size of the federal government. The White House claims that over 40,000 employees have accepted the offer to resign in exchange for pay until September 30. However, some workers have expressed confusion regarding the terms of the deal.
The order was issued shortly before the 23:59 EST (04:59 GMT Friday) deadline for federal workers to accept the offer. A lawyer for the Justice Department confirmed that federal employees would be notified that the deadline had been paused.
The White House seemed to view the temporary halt as an opportunity to encourage even more resignations. “We are grateful to the Judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the Administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Statement From The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
An Office of Personnel Management (OPM) statement clarified that the agency would continue processing resignations until a newly extended deadline of 23:59 local time on Monday. “The program is NOT being blocked or canceled,” it stated. “The government will honor the deferred resignation offer.”
The Trump administration, which had previously stated its hope that as many as 200,000 employees would accept the offer, told US media that they anticipated a surge in participation just before the deadline. “It’s going to save the American people tens of millions of dollars,” Leavitt told reporters outside the White House’s West Wing prior to the judge’s action.
The American Federation of Government Employees, a union, filed the lawsuit against the OPM, alleging that it had violated the law, that it could not fund the deal, and that it had provided conflicting guidance regarding its terms. The union said in an email to members that the offer was part of an “effort to dismantle the civil service and replace the skilled, professional workforce with unqualified political appointees and for-profit contractors”.
The union also pointed out that Congress has not passed a budget for funding beyond mid-March, raising concerns about the agencies’ ability to pay workers until September. On Thursday, the union said it was “pleased” by the judge’s actions.
Response From Federal Worker On The Buyout Package
Some federal employees have expressed their shock at the buyout proposal, which was delivered in a late-night email with the subject line “Fork in the Road”. Some initially mistook the email for spam. “The tone of the initial email was like ‘you may be cut anyway,'” Monet Hepp, a medical support specialist at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, previously told BBC. “People were blindsided by it.”
Democrats have questioned the legality of the resignation buyout package and warned that it would lead to a “brain drain” that would be “felt by every American”. “Without the expertise and institutional knowledge that so many federal employees bring to their work, our government will be incapable of responding effectively to national emergencies, serving the American public, or even carrying out routine operations,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote in a letter to President Trump.
On Tuesday, the Central Intelligence Agency became the first national security department to extend the offer to its staff. Former US intelligence officials and several lawmakers have raised concerns that this offer could undermine US national security. Reports also indicate impending cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the weather-forecasting agency, and the Department of Health and Hum.
Source: bbc
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