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Tens of thousands of U.S. civil servants were cleared to take a buyout from Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday after a federal judge ruled the unprecedented downsizing effort could proceed.
About 75,000 workers have signed up for the buyout, said a spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, equal to 3% of the civilian workforce. Trump’s administration has promised to pay their salaries until September 30 without requiring them to work, though unions have warned the offer is not trustworthy.
Unions representing federal workers had sued to stop the program, and had delayed it for six days while U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston considered the issue.
But the judge ruled on Wednesday that the unions did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit and said the issue needed to be tackled in other forums before landing in court.
The administration said the program is now closed to new applicants.
“There is no longer any doubt: the Deferred Resignation Program was both legal and a valuable option for federal employees,” the Office of Personnel Management said in a statement.
Unions involved in the dispute did not immediately say whether they would appeal the judge’s decision or pursue other options.
“Today’s ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants. But it’s not the end of that fight,” said Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 federal workers.
The buyout is one of many approaches Trump is taking to slash a civilian workforce of 2.3 million that he has blasted as ineffective and biased against him. He has also ordered government agencies to prepare for wide-ranging job cuts, and several have already begun to lay off recent hires who lack full job security.
Officials have been told to prepare staff cuts of up to 70% at some agencies, sources say.
Trump’s offer to pay salaries and benefits until September 30 may not be ironclad. Current spending laws expire on March 14, and there is no guarantee that salaries would be funded beyond that point.
Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice had described the initiative as a “humane off-ramp” for those frustrated by Trump’s broader plans to reduce the size of the workforce and end the ability of many to work from home.
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Unions representing federal employees argued in their lawsuit that the program was “stunningly arbitrary” and violates a law that prevents agencies from spending more money than approved by Congress.
They warned the buyout, which does not apply to border guards, air traffic controllers and some other workers, could thin the workforce in an arbitrary fashion and disrupt vital government services.
Unions and Democratic attorneys general have brought several other lawsuits challenging Trump’s rapid remaking of government and won some initial victories.
In a separate lawsuit filed on Wednesday, five unions sued to block what they called a possible mass firing of hundreds of thousands of workers who resist pressure to accept the buyouts.
Layoffs vs. Congressional Budget Plan
Trump has deputized billionaire Elon Musk to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which is combing through payment and personnel records in an effort to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget, which totaled $6.75 trillion last year.
Civilian worker salaries account for less than 5% of that total. If the buyout reduces headcount by less than 3%, it could deliver less than $10 billion in annual savings.
Roughly 6% of the workforce either resigns or retires each year, federal figures show.
Trump has ordered federal agencies to work with Musk’s team to identify employees who can be laid off and functions that can be eliminated entirely.
CNN late on Wednesday reported that terminations of probationary employees were underway at the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, citing federal employees and union sources. Neither the DOE nor the SBA immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment.
Musk’s team has focused on 15 agencies so far and has dismantled two – one that provides a lifeline to the world’s needy and another that protects Americans from unscrupulous lenders. Some Republican budget experts say the effort reflects conservative ideology more than a good-faith effort to save taxpayer dollars.
Trump himself has ruled out cuts to popular retirement and health benefits for seniors that account for 36% of federal spending and are projected to eat up more of the budget as the population ages.
Trump’s Republican allies in Congress, meanwhile, are preparing a budget plan that would cut taxes and increase security spending, which independent experts say would add trillions of dollars to the national debt.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Karen Friefeld in New York and Tim Reid, Andy Sullivan, Steve Holland, Kanishka Singh and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Stephen Coates)
