Federal judge again extends pause to ‘deferred resignation’ deadline
Federal workers have more time to think about the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” offer after a federal judge in Massachusetts extended a stay on the deadline until further notice.
The order from Judge George O’Toole of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts came during a Monday hearing in a case brought by unions. It comes after O’Toole issued a temporary restraining order last week that paused the deadline on the Office of Personnel Management’s offer to Monday night.
The “deferred resignation” option came to federal employees in the form of an email from OPM last month. That message — or “Fork in the Road” as OPM called it in a copy of the email it posted online — provided workers with an offer to resign from their government posts while still retaining pay and benefits and being exempted from in-person work requirements until Sept. 30. Workers had until Feb. 6 to accept.
That offer, however, was immediately met with skepticism and questions about its legality. On Feb. 4, the American Federation of Government Employees along with the AFL-CIO and others sued OPM over the missive, alleging it was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. They argue the message threatens employees with the possibility of future termination if they don’t accept and provides no statutory basis for the action, among many other claims.
