Referee Pauses Further Trump’s severance offer to federal workers: npr

The resignation of federal employees known as a “fork in Vejen” is now in a judge’s hands.

After a hearing Monday, US district judge George O’Toole pushed back to the deadline of the Trump Administration’s deferred resignation, “until further court order.”

The hearing in a federal courtroom in Boston came almost two weeks after US Office of Personal Management (OPT) sent an E email to more than 2 million civilian employees in the federal government with the subject line “Fork in the Road.” Originally, federal employees gave only nine days to decide their fate.

OPT -E -Mail -equivalent to a Trump Counselor Elon Musk, who was sent to Twitter -employees after he bought the company in 2022 -gave government workers a choice: they could stay or leave, but if they were, their job would not be guaranteed. Furthermore, those who were staying would face “significant” reforms, including redundancies, a return to the office and an expectation that they are “loyal.”

If they leave, said OM, the expectation was that they could remain on the government’s payroll until the end of September.

Last Thursday, the O’Toole ordered the government to extend the 6th February period for employees to accept the offer so he could hear arguments in the case. On Monday, the court did not say when O’Toole would make a decision on whether the deferred severance program should continue.

Late Monday, OPT sent an E email to federal employees informing them that the program remains open for resignation.

In the White House, President Trump said he was convinced that his administration would prevail.

“I was chosen to make the government better, more efficient and less, and that’s what we’re doing and I think it was a very generous buyout,” he said.

About 65,000 federal employees, approx. 3% of the federal workforce agreed to resign from Friday, according to Trump administration.

Unions defend and called resignation offers illegally, arbitrary and whimsical

The legal group democracy going forward filed a trial February 4 on behalf of unions representing more than 800,000 officials. It claims that the Trump Administration’s resignation is illegal, as well as “arbitrary and whimsical in several respects.”

The unions claim that OM exceeded its authority in promising wages and benefits through the end of September, considering that funding for most federal agencies expires on March 14. A law known as it Antideficiency Act Prohibits Federal Agencies to oblige all expenses that have not yet been approved by Congress.

The unions also claim that the offer does not consider possible negative consequences for the government’s ability to function; Sets any short deadline; And are pretext to remove and replace workers on an ideological basis, among other things.

In court on Monday, the union lawyer Elena Goldstein described the resignation offer as “explosive”, and somewhat OP looked to make up as they went together.

Over the past two weeks, the government sent a barrier of E emails to federal employees, including those who were originally told they were excluded from the agreement, with conflicting information about their rights and obligations if they agreed to agree to resign.

“This guide continues to change in a way that hides the true nature of the directive from the applicants, federal employees and the public,” the unions wrote in their complaint.

Government claims that the “fork” offering is legal

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice Attorney Eric Hamilton called the offer for a “Human Offramp” for federal employees who do not want to deal with the uncertainty in front of the federal workforce that Trump – governed by Musk’s government efficiency team – performs a major revision.

Hamilton also argued for a point that no further compensation was offered.

In addition, the government argued that resignation is not a “final agency action” and is therefore not subject to legal review.

“It’s a matter of pure internal government administration,” the government’s lawyers wrote in their short.

They rejected the claim that the “fork” offering is coercion and seemed to try to change legal responsibility away from the Employment and against employees accepting the offer.

“The e -mail announcing the voluntary severance program does not determine any rights or obligations, and no legal consequences flow from the program itself. On the contrary, any legal consequences would flow from a federal employee’s choice by accepting the voluntary resignation offer,” the Government’s lawyers wrote . “The voluntary severance program ‘doesn’t require anyone to do anything.'”

The government had claimed that pausing program would further spray more uncertainty for federal workers and interfere with a “critical priority” of the Trump administration – to review the federal workforce.

Attorneys General warns of devastating influence on US public

Democratic lawyers generally from 20 states and District of Columbia filed a short Sunday in support of unions ‘trials and claimed that the resignation offer “would have a devastating influence on the states’ ability to respond to natural disasters, support veterans and provide crucial services to millions of Americans.”

“Without the work for thousands of federal employees, communities across the country will suffer,” New York Attorney General Latitia James said in a statement.

On Monday, O’Toole ordered that cards with others submitted, deleted from docket. He wrote, “Although there may be no positive rule prohibiting it, a lawsuit should generally not receive or consider voluntary submissions from non-parties, except specifically approved by the statute or other authority.”

The federal government is the largest employer in the United States, with 80% of civilian employees working on military bases and in government offices outside Washington, DC, Region.

WBUR’S Walter Wuthmann contributed to this story from Boston.