A federal judge on Wednesday lifted a pause on Trump’s federal worker buyout program.
Earlier this month President Trump announced he is offering buyouts to millions of federal workers if they resign by February 6.
The federal workers who accept Trump’s offer will receive pay and benefits through September 30.
Trump is offering the buyouts to make sure all federal workers are “on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office,” CNBC reported.
Only 6% of all federal workers actually work full-time in the office!
Trump’s offer does not include postal workers, military, immigration officials or people in national security roles.
Union sued the Trump Administration last week to challenge the buyout program.
Last week US District Judge for the District of Massachusetts George O’Toole, a Clinton appointee, paused the February 6 deadline for the federal workers to take up Trump’s offer to resign.
On Wednesday Judge O’Toole said Trump can proceed with his buyout program because the unions representing the federal workers were “not directly impacted by the directive.”
“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,” the judge wrote, according to CBS News. “The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others.”
CBS News reported:
A federal judge in Massachusetts allowed the Trump administration’s bid to offer “deferred resignations” to federal workers who voluntarily leave government service to continue and lifted a previous court order pausing the program’s deadline.
Judge George O’Toole, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs in the case — unions that represent federal employees — lacked standing to bring the case in the first place. He also ruled he did not have the jurisdiction to stop the program from proceeding.
The judge initially paused the original Feb. 6 deadline for workers to accept the offer last week, and held a hearing on Monday over whether he should issue a temporary restraining order extending the pause.
