Judge Issues Ruling On Trump’s Buyout Plan
A major legal roadblock to the Trump administration’s federal workforce overhaul has been removed. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. dissolved his temporary freeze on the administration’s plan to offer federal employees a payout in exchange for their resignation, allowing the initiative to move forward.
The ruling comes after a lawsuit was filed on February 4 by labor unions representing government employees, who claimed the directive was unlawful. However, Judge O’Toole determined that the unions lacked the legal standing to challenge the policy, stating that they were not directly impacted. Instead, they had only cited “upstream effects” such as resource diversion, potential membership loss, and reputational harm—none of which met the legal threshold for a direct stake in the matter.
With the lawsuit dismissed, the Trump administration’s plan—announced via a January 28 email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—is now back on track. Under the initiative, eligible federal employees are being offered deferred compensation through September 30 if they submit their resignation by February 6.
The administration has framed this as part of a broader effort to reform the federal workforce through four key pillars: requiring employees to return to the office, shifting to a performance-based culture, creating a “more streamlined and flexible workforce,” and enhancing standards of conduct.
#BREAKING: TRUMP AND ELON WIN IN COURT – Federal worker buyout allowed to proceed
A judge had previously BLOCKED the plan allowing federal workers to resign with 8 months pay.
Over 70,000 employees have already agreed to the deal.
THEY CAN’T STOP THE WINNING! pic.twitter.com/62P8UEJjZq
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 12, 2025
For those choosing to stay, the email made it clear that while their service is valued, job security is not guaranteed. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency, but should your position be eliminated, you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions,” the email stated.
With estimates suggesting that 5-10% of federal employees may take the offer, the projected savings could reach $100 billion, according to reports from Axios and NBC News. The move has already seen support from at least one intelligence agency, with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly becoming the first to follow suit. A CIA spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Director John Ratcliffe is working “swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities.”
This workforce reduction effort follows a January 20 executive order from Trump, which ended remote work for federal employees and mandated a return to in-person work on a “full-time basis.”
Not surprisingly, the policy has sparked backlash from Democrats and federal employee unions. On Monday, the American Federation of Government Employees led a protest to “save the civil service,” with Democratic lawmakers joining in. At the rally, Oregon Representative Maxine Dexter took the rhetoric to another level, shouting a profane call-out of Trump, reportedly yelling that they needed to “f---” the president.