A federal judge has temporarily halted an order for federal workers to accept a “deferred resignation” offer, which they originally had until the end of the day on Thursday to accept.
The offer, which is part of a larger plan by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce, resulted in confusion for those considering the deal. It also led to lawsuits from several labor unions, including one case filed in a federal court in Boston.
“The judge ruled that that was extended at least until Monday afternoon, when there is another hearing scheduled,” said D.C.-based employment attorney Stephanie Rapp Tully, a partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC.
Tully said the judge also ordered agency heads to notify workers of the court’s action.
Tully said there are a lot of complicated legal issues at play and it isn’t clear how much the judge will get into during a hearing on Monday. She said the judge may choose to rule more carefully on the temporary restraining order during the hearing or they may decide to have attorneys argue the issues at hand.
“One of the big concerns is whether the government can promise future pay and whether they can actually follow through with what has been said in the offer — whether it is actually an offer in the legal sense of the word, and what legal recourse someone could have if it doesn’t go through,” Tully said.
She believes, ultimately, the several cases in which the offer is being challenged will result with the Supreme Court weighing in on the topic. In the meantime, we could see multiple decisions in the different cases, which leaves many questions still unanswered.
“There’s no very clear guidance in the law. Some would argue that there is, but I think there are open questions that need to be decided by courts,” Tully said.
She said one thing that it is important for federal workers to know before taking the offer is that this is a formal resignation.
“If you were in a private sector job and you walked into your boss’ office and said, ‘I quit,’ most likely, you wouldn’t expect to be able to demand to come back because of something else,” Tully said.
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