A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed an attempt to block the Trump administration’s buyout of contracts for tens of thousands of federal workers, ruling that the public sector unions that filed the lawsuit lacked standing. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. upheld the Office of Personnel Management’s “Fork in the Road” program, which allowed two million federal workers the option to quit and receive payments through September. As a result of the ruling, the window to accept the offer closed Wednesday at 7:20 p.m. ET, after at least 75,000 workers accepted the deal.
The American Federation of Government Employees and several other unions had challenged the program, claiming the offer violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). “The plaintiffs are unable to succeed on the merits of their two APA claims because they lack Article III standing and because this Court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the claims asserted,” O’Toole said.
He further stated that the unions did not have enough direct interest to challenge the buyout scheme, the Daily Wire reported. “The plaintiffs here are not directly impacted by the directive. Instead, they allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects, including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm,” he wrote. “The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees. This is not sufficient.”
McLaurine Pinover, a spokeswoman for the Office of Personnel Management, hailed the ruling, saying that OPM was “pleased the court has rejected a desperate effort to strike down the Deferred Resignation Program.” She further stated to the New York Post: “There is no longer any doubt: the Deferred Resignation Program was both legal and a valuable option for federal employees. This program was carefully designed, thoroughly vetted, and provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures.”
AFGE President Everett Kelley said the decision was “a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants.” He added: “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.”
