WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to oust federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The measure was to go into effect starting today, Friday, Feb. 7.Before the judge’s ruling, federal employees deemed eligible had until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to apply for the deferred resignation program so they could leave their jobs with a guarantee of being paid until September. After the initial measure, Trump’s press secretary had accused some federal employees of trying to “rip off the American people”.The judge’s stay stems from a lawsuit that the American Federation of Government Employees and several other unions filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, seeking a temporary restraining order to stay the measure’s enactment. Since Trump’s decision, there have been a number of unions that have approached the new administration to request that a “legal” method be formulated, not an “ultimatum” that workers “may not be able to enforce. “The unions have also questioned the Trump administration’s ability to deliver on its promises regarding incentives in the event of any resignation of federal employees. Before the measure was suspended, more than 50,000 employees had accepted the resignation proposal offered by Trump, the equivalent of 2.5 percent of the approximately two million federal employees deemed eligible for incentives.The new administration’s offer is part of a broader government plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, putting many employees in the face of a difficult decision about their careers and futures.A spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management described the offer as “a rare and generous opportunity,” also arguing that those who do not opt in risk losing their jobs, as the administration is planning large-scale layoffs soon.The White House has disclosed that its goal is to get 10 percent of federal employees to resign. After the measure, the administration expected that a large number of workers would accept the package in the last 48 hours before the deadline. The resignation offer had been sent to federal employees last Jan. 28 via the administration’s new e-mail system. The subject line of the email was “Fork in the Road.”-photo xp6-(ITALPRESS).
