A US judge has temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s plan offering incentives to federal workers to voluntarily resign before a Thursday midnight deadline.
Federal Judge George O’Toole Jr said the plan would be paused until a hearing on Monday when he could determine the merits of a lawsuit filed by federal employee unions, reported CBS, the BBC’s US partner.
The offer is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal government.
The White House says more than 40,000 employees have accepted the offer to resign in exchange for pay until 30 September. Some workers have voiced confusion about the terms of the deal.
The order came hours before Thursday’s 23:59 EST (04:59 GMT Friday) deadline for federal workers to accept the offer.
A lawyer for the justice department said federal employees would be notified that the deadline had been paused, CBS reported.
The White House appeared to see the temporary halt as a way to increase the number of 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.
An Office of Personnel Management (OPM) statement said the agency would continue processing resignations until an extended deadline of 23:59 local time on Monday.
“The program is NOT being blocked or canceled,” it said. “The government will honor the deferred resignation offer.”
The Trump administration, which previously said it hoped for as many as 200,000 employees to accept its offer, told US media they expected a spike in participation just ahead of 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 before the judge paused the programme.
The American Federation of Government Employees, a union, filed the lawsuit against the OPM, arguing it had violated the law, that it could not fund the deal, and that it had given conflicting guidance about 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 noted that Congress has not passed a budget for funding beyond mid-March, arguing that it was unclear whether agencies could pay workers until September.
On Thursday, the union said it was “pleased” by the judge’s actions.
BBC
