WASHINGTON: A US judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s proposed buyout for federal workers until at least Monday, giving an initial win to labor unions that sued to stop it.
Even as the program was stayed, more than 60,000 federal employees have already accepted the buyout offer.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston pushes back a midnight deadline set by the Trump administration, which is pressuring federal workers to leave their jobs in an unprecedented drive to overhaul the federal government.
O’Toole could opt to delay the buyout further or block it on a more permanent basis when he next considers the legal challenge by the unions at a hearing on Monday. The White House said employees could submit plans to leave through 11:59 pm. ET Monday.
The buyout effort is part of a far-reaching plan by President Donald Trump and his allies to both rein in and reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, which Trump blames for stymieing his agenda during his first presidential term.
As part of that effort, the Trump White House is in the midst of a dramatic downscaling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes humanitarian aid around the world.
The administration plans to keep fewer than 300 out of the agency’s worldwide total of more than 10,000.
Meanwhile, Trump’s buyout proposal has upended Washington, sparking street protests and accusations by labor unions and opposition Democrats that the Republican president is violating multiple laws.
Federal employees were asked to indicate they want to take part by typing RESIGN into the subject line of an email from their government accounts.
The offer promises to pay employees’ regular salaries and benefits until October without requiring them to work, but that may not be ironclad. Current spending laws expire on March 14 and there is no guarantee that salaries will be funded beyond that point.–Reuters
