President Trump's buyouts for federal employees can proceed, judge rules
WASHINGTON ― A federal judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday restored President Donald Trump's buyouts for federal employees, delivering a setback to opponents of Trump's efforts to drastically cut the federal workforce.
The Trump administration quickly claimed victory and responded by announcing the close of the buyout offer to any federal workers who might still be undecided.
U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole, in a written order, said federal employees unions that sued to stop the program lacked standing to bring their challenge and that his court does not have jurisdiction to hear their complaint.
The judge lifted his pause on the buyouts that he first issued last week and denied the plaintiffs' request for an injunction, allowing the Trump administration to move forward with the buyouts.
"As of 7:00 PM tonight, the program is now closed," McLaurine Pinover, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said in a statement. "There is no longer any doubt: the Deferred Resignation Program was both legal and a valuable option for federal employees."
In a push to downsize the government, the Trump administration last month offered buyouts to nearly all 2.3 million federal employees in a plan dubbed "Fork in the Road," promising eight months of pay and benefits if they resign.
Federal workers were originally given a deadline of Feb. 6 to make their decisions, but O'Toole paused the deadline last week to allow litigation in a lawsuit brought by the the American Federation of Government Employee and other unions. The judge, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, extended that pause Monday.
In his new order, O'Toole said the plaintiffs are not "directly impacted" by the buyout program, which the unions argued would result in a potential loss of union membership and diverted financial resources by answering questions from members about the directive.
"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 wrote in the order.
O'Toole also said the plaintiffs' claims do not fall under jurisdiction of federal district courts, but instead should be reviewed administratively through mechanisms created by federal laws that govern labor relations.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt applauded the judge's decision. "This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities," she said in a statement.
The "Fork in the Road" buyout program is part of billionaire tech entrepreneur's Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump has empowered to cut spending and gut the federal bureaucracy.
About 75,000 workers accepted the buyouts before the the offer ended, representing about 3.3% of the federal workforce, which is less than White House projections for 5% to 10% to take part.
The Trump administration has signaled furloughs and layoffs are likely if not enough federal workers agree to the buyouts.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order instructing heads of federal departments and agencies to undertake plans for "large-scale reductions in force." Layoffs started Wednesday at the General Services Administration, the agency which manages the federal government's real estate portfolio, Reuters reported.
The judge’s opinion on the buyout plan marks a rare legal win in the short existence of DOGE, which has faced court setbacks in efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development and access the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
In their lawsuit, unions argued the Trump administration lacked any statutory basis for the buyouts and can't authorize buyout payments through September when Congress hasn't appropriated funding past March 14.
"Today's ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants. But it's not the end of that fight," said Everett Kelley, national president of AFGE, the largest federal employees union, representing about 800,000 workers.
He said AFGE's lawyers are evaluating the decision and "assessing next steps."
"Importantly, this decision did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program," Kelley said. "We continue to maintain it is illegal to force American citizens who have dedicated their careers to public service to make a decision, in a few short days, without adequate information, about whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk."
(This story has been updated with more information and photos.)
Contributing: Reuters. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.