US judge pauses Trump’s ‘deferred resignation’ deadline, union says

A deadline for employees throughout the U.S. government to accept a “deferred resignation” offer from the Trump administration won’t go into effect Thursday night, following an order from a federal judge.

According to a statement from the American Federation of Government Employees, which is one of the unions that brought the lawsuit earlier this week, a judge granted their request to issue a temporary restraining order, which blocks the midnight deadline. 

The deadline is now Feb. 10 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, according to court documents.

“We are pleased the court temporarily paused this deadline while arguments are heard about the legality of the deferred resignation program,” Everett Kelley, AFGE’s national president, said in a written statement. “We continue to believe this program violates the law, and we will continue to aggressively defend our members’ rights.”

The action comes after the AFGE and others filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday. The plaintiffs said the offer from the Office of Personnel Management, which is titled “Fork in the Road,” is arbitrary and capricious and contrary to the law. 

According to the offer, employees that accept by Feb. 6 would “retain all pay and benefits regardless” of their daily workload and would be exempted from in-person work until Sept. 30 or earlier if a worker resigns earlier. 

In the complaint, the unions said the offer is an effort to reduce the career federal workforce and threatens employees with the possibility of future job loss if they don’t accept. It also fails to provide information on a variety of questions, including whether OPM can or will honor the financial commitment to agencies given that Congress didn’t appropriate funds for that arrangement, and the implications for pensions, health insurance and retirement, among other things.

In a Wednesday filing, OPM said it was complying with the court’s order to stay the deadline, which was made during a hearing earlier in the day, and had notified workers of the deadline extension in an email. A copy of that message was submitted to the court.

The court has scheduled a hearing for arguments on the merits for Monday.

This story was updated Feb. 7, 2025, with a quote from Kelly and information about OPM’s compliance with the court order.