A federal judge in Massachusetts paused the Trump administration’s federal employee buyout offer ahead of its deadline Thursday, as the White House said tens of thousands of employees had taken the offer.
The pause, until at least Monday, came as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and other employee unions, who argued the buyout offer violated federal law. At a brief hearing Thursday, District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. for the District of Massachusetts ordered the program, referred to as the “Fork Directive,” paused so he can have “proper consideration” of the issues raised by the unions and the Trump administration.
O’Toole cautioned that he was not ruling in favor of the plaintiffs during the hearing.
