Judge Keeps Federal Worker Exit Deal Paused as Ruling Looms (2)

A federal judge in Massachusetts kept in place a pause on the Trump administration’s federal worker exit offer as he gets set to rule on whether to block the voluntary resignation program.

The Feb. 6 temporary restraining order “will continue until I resolve the issues that are presented,” Judge George O’Toole of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts said Monday during a hearing in Boston.

O’Toole, a Clinton appointee, said he may consider converting the TRO into a preliminary injunction ruling. That decision is expected to drop later.

Unions last week sued to challenge the Office of Personnel Management’s exit offer for federal workers known as “Fork in the Road,” a deal that has placed federal workers in a dilemma: accept it with the hopes the government will pay them through Sept. 30 or reject it in the face of potential layoffs.

O’Toole originally paused the Feb. 6 deadline for federal workers to take the deal until Monday. More than 50,000 employees signed on as of Feb. 7—about 2% of the federal civilian workforce.

Since then, the unions claim they’ve faced a barrage of questions from federal workers about what the directive is and how it works as official guidance from the federal government fluctuates.

The government “may continue to change the terms of their ultimatum right up until the last minute,” said Elena Goldstein, senior legal advisor at Democracy Forward, who represents the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions in the lawsuit.

The unions want the court to continue to delay the deadline, which Goldstein said is a “high-pressure” ploy to “increase the number of employees who accept it.”

O’Toole asked Goldstein why the unions wouldn’t be further harmed by extending the deadline.

“There’s more opportunity for people to change their mind and sign up,” he said.

She responded that the Trump administration is anticipating receiving a flood of acceptances in the last hours of the program, so there would be “irreparable harm” if the court maintains the deadline.

Eric Hamilton, an attorney for the US Department of Justice, said that’s “legally incoherent.”

“Plaintiffs are asking the court to hold that it is likely that the voluntary resignation program is unlawful, and on that premise, to extend the program out into time,” Hamilton said. “That does not make any sense and the court should not consider that possibility.”

OPM sent an email to federal workers Monday evening informing them the deferred resignation program remains open, but will be closed to new entrants “as soon as legally permissible.”

The administration is facing at least nine lawsuits seeking to block Trump and billionaire Elon Musk‘s effort to shrink the federal workforce.

A coalition of Democratic attorneys general filed a brief Sunday in support of federal employees.

The case is AFGE v. Ezell, D. Mass., No. 25-cv-10276, hearing 2/10/25.