By: David Zimmermann – nationalreview.com – February 12, 2025

The judge previously extended his pause on the ‘Fork in the Road’ initiative without issuing a formal ruling.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday lifted his days-long pause on the Trump administration’s deferred-resignation program that allows federal workers to continue working remotely with full pay and job benefits until September 30.

U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr., who presides in Boston, said the three federal labor unions that challenged the “Fork in the Road” initiative lacked standing to meet the legal standard for a temporary restraining order.

“The plaintiffs here are not directly impacted by the directive,” O’Toole wrote. “Instead, they allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm. The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees. This is not sufficient.”

The order marks a significant victory for President Donald Trump, whose administration seeks to reduce the federal workforce and cut government costs in the hopes of making the executive branch more efficient. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is helping achieve that ambitious goal.

“This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to the ruling.

The deadline of the deferred-resignation program was delayed until further notice after O’Toole extended his pause on Monday without issuing a formal ruling. The program closed at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday in the immediate wake of the judge’s order.

The Office of Personnel Management emailed more than 2 million federal employees late last month, offering them the opportunity to resign more than seven months in advance as part of the Fork in the Road directive. Despite the administration’s return-to-office mandate, applicants to this program can work from home.

Three labor unions representing federal employees (the American Federation of Government Employees; the National Association of Government Employees; and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) sought to block what they called an “arbitrary and capricious” buyout offer with a lawsuit last week. They claimed it violated federal law and, if enacted, would destabilize key federal agencies with a high number of vacancies.

OPM lawyers argued that the unions failed to establish irreparable harm or legal standing to halt the resignation program that the administration deems lawful.

The American Federation of Government Employees said it is reviewing the decision and assessing next steps.

More than 65,000 federal workers already opted to take the resignation offer, an OPM spokesperson said on Friday. Normally, some 146,500 workers quit or retire each year. Out of roughly 2.3 million federal workers, the Trump administration hoped that 5 to 10 percent of the federal workforce would volunteer to resign.

To see this article in its entirety and to subscribe to others like it, please choose to read more.

Source: www.nationalreview.com/news/judge-lifts-pause-on-trumps-federal-worker-resignation-program