Judge restores Trump administration's buyout offer to federal workers

A federal judge restored President Donald Trump's deferred resignation program for federal workers in a decision Wednesday.

The deferred resignation program, also known as the administration's "fork in the road" offer, asked government workers to stay or leave after Trump required them to return to their offices shortly after his inauguration. The legal group Democracy Forward had filed a lawsuit over the program on behalf of labor unions that represent thousands of employees. 

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole of Massachusetts made the ruling in favor of the White House Wednesday evening. In his decision, he wrote that the plaintiffs in the case "are not directly impacted by the directive" and denied their case on that basis.

"[T]hey 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," O'Toole wrote. 

Read Full Article Here