At least 70,000 federal workers have opted into the Trump administration’s buyout offer as of Feb. 11, a White House official told The Epoch Times.
The number of workers accepting the offer had reached 65,000 on Feb. 7, after a total of 20,000 had opted in three days prior.
Among his many efforts to downsize the federal government, President Donald Trump released his “Fork in the Road” plan that would give federal workers deferred resignation with eight months of full pay and benefits if they are willing to leave their jobs.
The offer was made after Trump in January ordered all federal workers back to in-office work and directed officials to enforce stricter performance standards.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. initially delayed the offer’s original Feb. 6 deadline for four days before issuing an indefinite pause on Feb. 10.
“The court orders that the current stay of the Feb. 6, 2025, deadline ... remain in effect until further order of the court,” a note on the docket stated.
Several unions had sued to block the offer, alleging that the Office of Personnel Management had violated the Administrative Procedure Act and Anti-Deficiency Act.
In a court filing, Elena Goldstein, an attorney with Democracy Forward, the group leading the lawsuit, asked the court to have the Trump administration notify federal employees that the buyout’s deadline was paused.
“Otherwise, some members of the federal workforce might not receive notice of the extended stay of the deadline,” she wrote in the filing.
Goldstein has argued that the buyout plan is too broad and does not consider which worker positions were still needed in the federal government.
She also alleged it was unlawful because it commits to spending funds not yet appropriated by Congress.
The last point has been a source of scrutiny for the plan, as Congress’s current funding appropriations expire in March.
The offer promises to give participating employees full pay and benefits through the end of September.
Critics have said there is no guarantee participating employees will receive the full eight months of pay and benefits.
In response, DOJ attorney Eric Hamilton defended the buyout.
He said it gave any federal workers who structured their lives around remote work an alternative, as Trump had ordered all agency heads to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements.”
The Trump administration has said that those who do not accept the buyout could still lose their jobs.
Additionally, Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 seeking to reclassify up to 50,000 federal jobs, making those employees easier to fire.
Trump’s order exempts those “of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character” from civil servant protections.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the American Federation of Government Employees argued that the president lacks the authority to strip federal workers of protections against being fired at will.
The Trump administration argued in a court filing before a Feb. 7 hearing that an extension to the deadline for federal employees to opt into the “deferred resignation” program was unnecessary.
“Extending the deadline for the acceptance of deferred resignation on its very last day will markedly disrupt the expectations of the federal workforce, inject tremendous uncertainty into a program that scores of federal employees have already availed themselves of, and hinder the administration’s efforts to reform the federal workforce,” the filing states.
