A federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s plan to get rid of government employees by offering them a payout.
The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the “fork in the road” deferred resignation programme – which has been commonly described as a buyout.
US district judge George O’Toole Jr, in Boston, did not express an opinion on the legality of the programme but scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2pm local time (7pm in the UK).
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He also directed administration officials to extend the deadline for the programme until after the hearing.
Mr O’Toole could opt to delay the scheme further or block it on a more permanent basis when he considers the legal challenge from unions on Monday.
The offer promises to pay employees their salaries until 30 September – but current spending laws expire on 14 March and it isn’t clear whether salaries will be funded beyond this point.
It comes as on Thursday, Mr Trump is set to sign more executive orders, one imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court and another tackling what he called anti-Christian bias.
The worker buyout scheme is part of a broader move from Mr Trump’s administration to shrink and reshape the federal government.
An important aspect of that has been Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – and he orchestrated the federal worker buyout scheme as well.
Responding to the development, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Sky News’ US partner NBC News: “We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer.”
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She also said that more than 40,000 people had accepted the buyout so far – this figure corresponds to around 2% of the federal government’s 2.3 million civilian workforce.
NBC News reported this figure to be higher, at 60,000, citing a senior administration official.
Around 6% of federal workers retire or resign in a normal year, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Labour unions and opposing Democrats have said the offer is not trustworthy.
The buyout covers not just employees at domestic agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency, but intelligence agencies like the CIA as well.
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The administration also warned those who do not accept the buyout could still lose their jobs.
This is the latest of Mr Trump’s efforts to be blocked by a judge over concerns of legality.
Mr Trump’s effort to block birthright US citizenship has been blocked by a second federal judge in two days.