Trump moves to close entries to government worker buyout programme

The Trump administration has said it will close entries to a programme designed to shrink the number of US government employees by incentivising resignations and proceed with the next stages.

The announcement was made on Wednesday, and followed a ruling from a judge who said the programme, which offered workers eight months of pay if they resign, could move ahead.

US District Judge George O'Toole in Boston said unions who had sued to stop the programme did not have legal standing.

About 75,000 federal employees opted into the programme before it was closed, according to US media reports.

An announcement on the website of the US Office of Personnel Management said the program was closed as of 19:20 ET on Wednesday.

The offer is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal government, a plan that is being spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

On 28 January, administration officials offered more than two million federal workers the choice to resign and receive eight months of pay.

Administration officials said in an online announcement that employees choosing to leave were "not expected to work", except in rare cases.

The offer was available to full-time federal employees - excluding certain staff such as postal workers, members of the military, immigration and national security officials.

The offer was announced in an email with the subject line "Fork in the Road" – which resembled one sent to Twitter employees soon after Elon Musk bought the company, which he renamed to X, and began to downsize its workforce.

Employees were given until 6 February to sign up - a deadline that was extended due to the legal challenge.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has called the offer "generous" for workers and something that will "save the American people tens of millions of dollars".

Democrats, unions and advocacy organisations have said it will lead to a "brain drain" in the federal government and expressed intense concern over unanswered questions and the legality of the plan.

• 'We were blindsided': Federal workers react to buy-out offer
• Legal showdown looms as Trump tests limits of presidential power
• 'You're fired': The people Trump has sacked since taking office

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other unions called the offer illegal.

They argued that the offer was a threat pushing employees to resign or risk losing their jobs without any payout. The email noted that those who declined the offer could not be given full assurances that their jobs would not be eliminated.

The unions also said there was no guarantee that those who took the offer would get a full eight months of pay because Congress, which appropriates such funds, had not approved government funding beyond mid-March.

After initially granting an injunction pausing the program, Judge O'Toole said that the unions do not have the "required direct stake" in the issue to challenge it in court.

The White House had no immediate comment on the ruling.

In a statement, AFGE National President Everett Kelley called the ruling a "setback" but said that the union's lawyers were assessing next steps.

"We continue to maintain it is illegal to force American citizens who have dedicated their careers to public service to make a decision, in a few short days, without adequate information, about whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk," he said.