Federal Judge Postpones Trump’s ‘Fork Directive’ Deadline Offering Federal Worker Buyout

A federal judge in Massachusetts postponed the midnight deadline for President Donald Trump’s buyout offer for federal workers on Thursday, pausing the initiative until a hearing Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The offer, which was scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, promises employees eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignation. U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr, a Bill Clinton appointee, stopped the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from enforcing the deadline until Monday after unions representing over 800,000 federal workers filed a lawsuit to halt the program, the outlet reported.

“I enjoin the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called Fork Directive pending the completion and oral arguments on the issues,” the judge said, according to the outlet.

A fork in the road https://t.co/vzk1RYbM5u

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025

The buyout is part of Trump and Elon Musk’s effort to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The OPM issued a “Fork in the Road” directive on Jan. 28 outlining the administration’s intent to “reform” the federal workforce, providing employees nine days to accept a “deferred resignation offer” by replying to the directive with “resign” in their email’s subject line. Over 40,000 of the 2.3 million eligible federal employees accepted the offer as of Wednesday night, the outlet reported.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and along with other unions for public employees — represented by legal group Democracy Forward — filed a lawsuit against the OPM Tuesday to block the buyout offer, calling it “illegal” and “an arbitrary, unlawful, short-fused ultimatum” in a press release. The lawsuit also argues the plan to pay resigned employees through September is in violation of the “Antideficiency Act,” a law that prohibits federal agencies from spending above their appropriated levels. Funding for most executive agencies expires in March.

“We are filing this lawsuit to stop the purge of qualified professionals from the federal government workforce,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said, adding, “If this chaos goes unchecked, it will have devastating impacts on working people.”

Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman lauded O’Toole’s decision in a press release Thursday. “We are pleased that the court has paused action on the so-called ‘fork in the road’ offer and ordered the government to notify all civil service employees,” Perryman said. “We look forward to the court hearing more fulsome argument on Monday.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the buyout offer “generous,” adding that only 6% of the federal employees worked in-person for a full workweek prior to Trump’s inauguration.

Monday’s court hearing will weigh whether to further block the buyouts as litigation continues.

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