A federal judge on Wednesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.
U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. had temporarily halted the administration’s offer of mass buyouts to millions of federal workers last week, just hours before the Thursday deadline for employees to accept the offer. That order came after labor unions representing government workers filed suit alleging that the administration did not have the legal authority to offer such buyouts.
In his ruling Wednesday, O'Toole found that the unions lacked legal standing to bring the suit.
"The plaintiffs here are not directly impacted by the directive. Instead, they allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm," he wrote.
"The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees. This is not sufficient," O'Toole added.
He said the "temporary restraining order previously entered is DISSOLVED and further preliminary injunctive relief is DENIED."
It was a significant legal victory for the president after a string of courtroom setbacks.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the judge's action.
“This Boston Buyout Ruling is the first of many legal wins for the President," she said in a statement. "This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities.”
Everett Kelley, the head of the one of the unions involved in the suit, the American Federation of Government Employees, called the ruling “a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants. But it’s not the end of that fight. AFGE’s lawyers are evaluating the decision and assessing next steps."
He also noted the ruling "did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program."
Tens of thousands of federal employees have already accepted the offer of “deferred resignation,” but it's unclear what that means for them now that the deadline has been paused. Also on The News4 Rundown: How the USAID freeze could affect people’s health and jobs in the U.S.
Trump wants to use financial incentives to encourage government employees to quit. According to the White House, tens of thousands of workers have taken the government up on its offer.
The deferred resignation program has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trump’s top adviser for reducing federal spending. Under the plan, employees can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30.
Labor unions argued the plan is illegal and asked for O’Toole to keep it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting more workers to sign up.
A Justice Department lawyer has called the plan a “humane off ramp” for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government offices.
