US judge pauses Trump’s buyout offer for federal employees

A US judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s proposed buyout for federal workers until at least Monday, giving an initial win to labour unions that sued to stop it.

The ruling by US 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 by labour unions and opposition Democrats 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 that accept it that their paychecks could stop at any time, media outlets reported. Labour unions and Democrats have said the offer is not trustworthy.

‘GLIMMER OF HOPE’

Some federal employees said they were heartened by Thursday’s court ruling.

“It’s a glimmer of hope that the courts might help us and block the whole resignation program,” said an employee at the General Services Administration, which manages federal properties.

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.

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.

The White House has sought to identify workers hired within the last two years, who lack full civil-service protections and would be easier to fire.

It has also ordered agency officials to identify those appointed by Trump’s predecessor, former President Joe Biden, who remain in civil-service jobs, as well as those who have received poor performance ratings.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House is planning to order the Food and Drug Administration and other health-care agencies to fire thousands of workers. The White House denied the report.

SAVING PAY STUBS

Federal workers say they are operating in a climate of fear and uncertainty.

Workers said they were downloading pay and benefit records that they feared could be erased from government computers as they weighed whether to take a buyout deal that might not be honoured or stay on with the knowledge they could be fired.

“In the halls most people are stopping to ask one another what their decision will be, with many people saying they are scared because we are caught between two bad choices and very little time to make the decision,” said one Treasury Department executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The White House says it is following through on Trump’s campaign promise to cut wasteful spending and slim down a bureaucracy that many conservatives see as left-leaning and unresponsive to the president’s agenda.

Trump has tasked Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, with leading the overhaul effort.

Musk and his aides have moved rapidly, turning up at agencies throughout Washington to demand access to sensitive information, including personnel files. Their efforts have resulted in purges of staff in several departments and a significant scaling down of operations of America’s main humanitarian aid agency, the US Agency for International Development.

Among the data Musk’s team has been examining are Medicare and Medicaid payments to older Americans and lower-income enrollees.

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