A federal judge who delayed President Donald J. Trump’s plan to reduce the federal workforce by offering do-nothing government workers the chance to quit. The deadline was February 6, and workers who wished to leave would get severance pay through September. Unions sued, and a federal judge heard arguments on the project “Fork in the Road,” the name used by Elon Musk to describe this offering to federal workers. A ruling was handed down tonight: it can proceed, and unions have no legal standing to challenge this initiative (via Politico):
A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to downsize the federal workforce by offering employees the option to resign now but stay on the payroll through September.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, an appointee of Bill Clinton, did not address whether the deferred-resignation program is legal. Instead, the judge ruled Wednesday that several unions that sued over the program lack legal standing to pursue the issue in court.
The program, termed the “Fork in the Road” and promoted by Trump adviser Elon Musk, originally had a deadline of Feb. 6 for workers to accept the offer.
Last week, O’Toole temporarily blocked the administration from enforcing that deadline while he considered the legal arguments in the case.
But on Wednesday, the Boston-based judge denied the unions’ request for a court order that would have required the government to continue to hold open the deadline while courts weigh the program’s legality.
The ruling appears to allow the administration to begin processing the resignations of workers who have already accepted the offer. The White House said last week that 40,000 people had agreed to resign under the program. And the administration has suggested that workers who did not accept the deferred-resignation offer may be laid off or face changes to their working conditions, such as being required to come to the office five days a week.
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As of today, about 75,000 federal workers opted to quit, with a severance package that was quite lofty. Trump signed an executive order that all federal workers were to return to the office, ending their work-from-home privileges. Based on the reactions, you’d thought Bloody Sunday had occurred.
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