BOSTON — Lawyers for labor unions and President Donald Trump’s administration faced off in a courtroom Monday with the fate of the federal workforce hanging in the balance.
Trump wants to use financial incentives to encourage government employees to quit. According to the White House, 65,000 workers had taken the government up on its offer as of Friday.
However, the plan was by U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston until he reviewed arguments over its legality. He adjourned a hearing on Monday afternoon without announcing a ruling, and a written decision was expected.
The deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trump’s top adviser for downsizing the federal government. If employees take the offer, they can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30.
Labor unions who sued over the program asked for O’Toole to keep it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting more workers to sign up.
Elena Goldstein, speaking for the workers, said there were “serious questions” about the plan’s rationale and legality.
“OPM seems to making this up as they are going along,” she said.
She said the program was an “unprecedented action” on an “unprecedented timeline,” and she described it as a pretext to remove workers and replace them with people aligned with the administration.
Eric Hamilton, a Justice Department lawyer, called the plan a “humane off ramp” for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government buildings.
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