US judge keeps Trump plan to push out federal workers on hold

BOSTON — President Donald Trump’s plan to downsize the federal workforce remains on hold after a courtroom hearing on Monday afternoon.

It’s the latest example of how the Republican president’s ambitious plans have become ensnared in the judicial system.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. had paused the deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, last week.

On Monday, he said the stay would remain in place until he issues a ruling. It’s unclear when that could happen.

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.

The deferred resignation program has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trump’s top adviser for reducing federal spending. Under the plan, employees can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30.

But labor unions said the plan is illegal. They 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.

Megerian reported from Washington, D.C.