Feb 20, 2025
A federal judge is weighing whether to grant a restraining order to prevent the Trump administration from carrying off mass layoffs across the federal government after a Tuesday hearing.
The suit, which was filed last week by a coalition of five federal workers’ unions, alleges the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to downsize the federal workforce — including through its recent deferred resignation offer, which was delivered to more than 2 million federal workers — violates Congress’s power to establish and manage a federal workforce.
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The judge, George O’Toole Jr., says he intends to rule on the order “sooner than later.”
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The ruling is one of a series of challenges that have cropped up in response to the controversial deferred resignation offers that went out to federal employees at the end of January, offering them the chance to resign now and be paid out until Sept. 30. Last week, a federal judge in Boston ruled against a challenge from a group of labor unions in their attempt to halt the administration’s buyout program, which they argue is illegal.
O’Toole found that the unions didn’t have legal standing to challenge the program, as they weren’t directly affected.
In a statement issued by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National on Feb. 12, President Everett Kelley said that the “ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants.”
Fork in the Road
On Jan. 28, millions of federal employees received an email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, offering workers the chance to resign and retail all pay and benefits until Sept. 30. They had until 7:20 PM EST on Feb. 12 to reply and officially resign.
After several labor unions representing government employees filed lawsuits claiming the administration didn’t have the legal standing to offer these types of buyouts, O’Toole, the judge who presided over the ruling, issued a temporary pause to the directive.
However, on Feb. 12, he ultimately ruled that the unions themselves didn’t have any legal standing to challenge the buyout program because these organizations weren’t directly affected.
As such, federal employees were able to quit and sign up for the deferred resignation program and continue to be paid and receive benefits until the end of September. According to McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management, around 75,000 federal employees accepted the buyout offer.
However, the current administration was reportedly hoping to have anywhere between 5% to 10% accept the deal.
Instead, only less than 5% did. While it could save billions of dollars for the federal government, it may not be enough for Trump’s goal to cut trillions from the federal budget.
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How labor unions are responding
Time will tell what the true effects of the buyout program are, though there are some legal experts questioning whether the agreement will remain valid. Reportedly, the Department of Education was warned that the buyout plan could be canceled.
In the meantime, the labor unions representing federal employees aren’t happy about the ruling and plan on fighting back.
In the same American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National statement, Kelley said that “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.”
The offer to pay salaries and benefits may not be set in stone, as the spending laws are set to expire next month — more specifically March 14.
Afterwards, there may be no funding or any ruling that would help to fund the buyout program. Worse case scenario, these workers are left with no income source that was promised to them and without any legal recourse because of the agreement they signed.
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Sarah Li-Cain, AFC is a finance and small business writer with over a decade of experience.
