A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's plan to implement a mass federal employee buyout, pausing a controversial initiative that would allow workers to resign while receiving full pay through September. The decision, handed down by U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. in Massachusetts, halts enforcement of the administration's so-called "Fork in the Road" directive, which was set to expire at midnight Thursday.
The pause comes in response to a lawsuit filed by three major federal employee unions-the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the National Association of Government Employees, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees-arguing that the initiative is illegal and coercive. The unions are seeking a temporary restraining order to suspend the program while its legality is reviewed.
"I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called 'Fork Directive' pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues," O'Toole said. He scheduled a follow-up hearing for Monday to determine whether the program should remain blocked.
The buyout plan, announced in late January, has already led to at least 50,000 federal workers-roughly 2.5% of the civilian federal workforce-accepting the offer, according to an administration official. The White House had set a target of between 5% and 10% of employees voluntarily resigning. Under the plan, employees who opt in would continue to receive full salaries until September 30, but those who decline could face future layoffs as part of a broader government downsizing effort.
Supervisors at several federal agencies have been briefing staff on the initiative, answering questions, and in some cases, stopping just short of encouraging workers to accept the buyout. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is overseeing the process, has described the offer as "a rare, generous opportunity." However, union leaders have criticized it, warning that employees who sign on could be left without recourse if the administration later withdraws the payments.
"Not only is this a clear case of bait-and-switch - they were originally told they would be paid to not work through Sept. 30 - but it proves that the terms of OPM's so-called offer are unreliable and cannot be trusted," Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement.
A sample agreement circulating among federal workers states that only agency heads have the discretion to rescind the resignation offer and that such decisions are not subject to appeal. Employees who accept the buyout must also waive the right to challenge its terms in court or through administrative proceedings.
The unions argue that the program's legal standing is shaky, as Congress has only funded federal agencies through mid-March. They contend that the administration cannot promise continued pay through September without congressional approval.
"First, the government will lose expertise in the complex fields and programs that Congress has, by statute, directed the Executive to faithfully implement," the lawsuit states. "And second, when vacant positions become politicized, as this Administration seeks to do, partisanship is elevated over ability and truth, to the detriment of agency missions and the American people."
The buyout plan is one of several efforts by the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal workforce, including replacing career officials with political appointees and rolling back civil service protections. The initiative is overseen by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with streamlining federal operations.
The messaging around the initiative drew comparisons to Musk's handling of layoffs at Twitter, now called X, following his takeover in 2022. The administration's mass email to employees carried the subject line "Fork in the Road," mirroring an email Musk sent to Twitter employees before implementing large-scale job cuts.
"OPM's rapid adoption of Musk's private-sector program confirms that the agency took very little time to consider the suitability of applying an approach used with questionable success in a single for-profit entity to the entirety of the federal workforce," the unions' lawsuit states.
The administration had anticipated a spike in buyout acceptances in the final days before the deadline. Employees were given the option to confirm their decision via email or through direct discussions with their agency managers. However, some employees who accepted the offer have since learned they may be required to continue working.
IRS workers who opted into the buyout, for instance, have been informed that they will need to stay on the job through May 15 to support the tax filing season. "By requiring IRS employees to stay on the job longer than promised, the administration is proving what NTEU has been saying all along: IRS employees are essential and without them, the jobs that the American people depend upon will not get done," Greenwald said.
The Trump administration has defended the initiative, with OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover accusing unions of misguiding workers. "Union leaders and politicians telling federal workers to reject this offer are doing them a serious disservice. This is a rare, generous opportunity - one that was thoroughly vetted and intentionally designed to support employees through restructuring," Pinover said in a statement.
