Trump supporters walk near the U.S. Capitol building as the sun sets the day U.S. President Elect Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election in Washington, U.S., November 6, 2024.
Leah Millis | Reuters
A federal judge in Boston on Thursday paused nationwide the Trump administration’s offer of buyouts to federal employees, less than 11 hours before the deadline for workers to accept the deal.
Judge George O’Toole Jr., said his injunction pausing the plan would continue until at least a court hearing Monday, when he will consider arguments by employee unions challenging the legality of the buyout, and by a lawyer for the Trump administration defending the plan.
O’Toole’s order Thursday came at a brief hearing, and as more than 60,000 people — about 3% of the federal workforce — have accepted the offer.
He said federal agencies must notify employees who received the buyout offer that the program has been enjoined until Monday.
“I make no assessment at this stage of the merits of the claims,” O’Toole said during Thursday’s hearing.
The Trump administration earlier Thursday in a mass email to federal employees said that the deadline for accepting the buyout offer would not be extended beyond 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday.
An Office of Personnel Management spokesperson told NBC News that the agency interprets O’Toole’s order as allowing federal agencies to continue processing resignations. The spokesperson said that if an employee has already accepted a deferred resignation package and their agency allows it, they can begin their paid leave.
The buyout offer, laid out in the so-called
