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A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s proposed buyout for federal workers until at least Monday, giving an initial win to labor unions who have sued to stop it.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston pushes back a midnight deadline set by the Trump administration, which is pressuring federal workers to leave their jobs in an unprecedented drive to overhaul the federal government.
O’Toole could opt to delay the buyout further or block it on a more permanent basis when he next considers the legal challenge by the unions at a hearing on Monday.
The buyout proposal has upended Washington, sparking street protests and accusations that Republican President Donald Trump is violating multiple laws.
The offer promises to pay employees’ salaries until October, but that may not be ironclad. Current spending laws expire on March 14 and there is no guarantee that salaries will be funded beyond that point.
The Education Department told staffers who accept it that their paychecks could stop at any time, media outlets reported.
Labor unions and opposition Democrats have said the offer is not trustworthy. Some pointed to Trump’s record of not paying business partners during his career as a New York property developer.
“They are notorious for not following through on their actions … especially when it comes to paying people,” said one worker at the Food and Drug Administration who said he would not accept the offer.
The buyout encompasses not only employees at domestic agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency that have traditionally drawn the ire of Trump’s Republicans, but intelligence agencies like the CIA as well.
Air traffic controllers at the understaffed Federal Aviation Administration are exempt, and some at the Internal Revenue Service will not be eligible until May 15, after the busy tax-filing season, according to a message to staff seen by Reuters.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said more than 40,000 federal employees had accepted the buyout offer so far, roughly 2% of the federal government’s 2.3 million civilian workforce.
Roughly 6% of federal workers retire or resign in a typical year, according to the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.
The administration said earlier in the day that those who do not accept the buyout could still lose their jobs.
(Reporting by Tim Reid, Nathan Layne, Daniel Wiessner, Mike Stone, Maggie Fick, Jasper Ward, Richard Cowan, Gabriella Borter, Alexandra Ulmer, Ned Parker, Nathan Layne and Andy Sullivan; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Ross Colvin, Mark Porter, Marguerita Choy and Deepa Babington)
