A US judge on Thursday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s so-called buyout program for thousands of federal employees it wishes to replace with Trump loyalists, awarding a temporary victory to labor unions that sued to stop it, Reuters reported.
In an email sent to all federal employees, the Trump administration instructed employees to email “RESIGN” from their government accounts if they wanted to opt into the supposed buyout program. The offer said it would guarantee pay and benefits through October 2025. Funding would have been uncertain beyond March 14, however, due to the federal budget having only been approved through then.
Despite the questionable legality and reliability of the offer, more than 60,000 federal workers have already signed up to take the offer, a White House source told Reuters.
US District Judge George O’Toole in Boston issued the ruling just hours before a midnight deadline. The decision delays the program until at least Monday when O’Toole will consider whether to extend the temporary injunction or terminate the buyout permanently.
The White House said employees can still submit plans to resign until 11:59 p.m. ET Monday.
President Donald Trump’s administration is aggressively pushing to shrink the federal workforce, which he has called the “deep state” and which he blames for “obstructing” his agenda during his first term. The buyout program, part of a broader effort to revamp the government pursuant to Project 2025, has sparked widespread opposition from labor unions and Democrats, calling out numerous actions as “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”
Under the US system of government, Congress has the power of the purse and authorizes and appropriates funds. The Executive Office of the President is required to implement programs approved by Congress and spend those funds. US law prohibits impoundment of such funds, and Trump was impeached during his first presidency for withholding appropriated funds from Ukraine. Yet, the Education Department has warned employees that salaries could be cut off at any time.
Many workers see the judge’s ruling as a potential lifeline. “It’s a glimmer of hope that the courts might block the whole resignation program,” said an employee at the General Services Administration.
Trump has tasked non-elected billionaire Elon Musk with recommending drastic cuts to the federal workforce. Musk’s team of 19-24-year-olds requested access to the US Treasury’s multi-trillion dollar payment system, raising privacy, national security, and conflict of interest concerns. A different court blocked that action.
Trump’s team has made clear that workers who don’t take the buyout could still lose their jobs. A new memo sent to agency heads orders them to submit a list of all employees who received less than a “fully successful” performance rating in the last three years. The memo instructs agencies to remove barriers to firing underperforming workers.
The administration is also carrying out a massive reduction at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting its workforce from over 10,000 to fewer than 300 employees, all of whom have been put on administrative leave, causing a halt in US humanitarian programs around the world, sources told Reuters.
The administration is also directing federal agencies to identify employees hired within the last two years—who lack full civil-service protections—and those civil servants hired under former President Joe Biden who remain in government roles.
The CIA complied with this directive yesterday, horrifying the intelligence community by sending an unclassified email listing the first names and last name initials of all analysts and operatives hired by the spy agency over the last two years, which experts say is a serious risk to American national security.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump plans to force the Food and Drug Administration and other health agencies to fire thousands of employees. The White House denied the report but continues its push to shrink the federal workforce, potentially dismantling the government and its ability to function or provide services.