Washington — A federal judge on Wednesday removed a key legal barrier to President Donald Trump’s plan to reduce the federal workforce through a deferred resignation program.
The Boston-based judge’s decision in the challenge filed by a group of labor unions was a significant legal victory for the Republican president following a series of courtroom setbacks.
“This demonstrates that law enforcement will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his policies,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Another group of unions filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. late Wednesday, though the implications were not immediately apparent.
According to McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management, approximately 75,000 federal employees accepted the offer to resign in exchange for compensation until September 30. She stated that the deferred resignation program “provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures,” but it was no longer open to new employees.
Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement that the union’s lawyers are reviewing the next steps.
“Today’s ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants,” Kelley informed the crowd. “But this is not the end of the fight. Importantly, this decision did not address the program’s underlying legality.
The union maintains that it is illegal to force American citizens to make a decision in a matter of days, without adequate information, about “whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk,” according to the statement.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. of Boston determined that because the unions were not directly affected, they lacked legal standing to challenge the program, also known as a buyout. Former Democratic President Bill Clinton nominated O’Toole.
The deferred resignation program was spearheaded by Elon Musk, Trump’s top adviser on federal spending reductions. Employees can stop working and still be paid until September 30, according to the plan.
Labor unions argued that the plan is illegal and requested that O’Toole put it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting additional workers to sign up.
A Justice Department lawyer has described the plan as a “humane off ramp” for federal employees who may have built their lives around working remotely but have been ordered to return to government offices.
