A federal judge has delayed the deadline for federal workers to accept or reject a buyout offer made by the Office of Personnel Management.

Senior U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order today in a case brought by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers., AFGE said. Among their members are about 100,000 employees of USDA, according to AFGE.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that more than 40,000 workers governmentwide had accepted the offer as of Thursday, about 2% of the federal workforce. 

According to the Partnership for Public Service, 38% of USDA employees were eligible for retirement at the end of 2023. Some 63% of USDA employees in the senior executive service were eligible for retirement. 

The TRO came hours before the deadline set in the OPM memo that went to 2 million federal workers on Jan. 28. O’Toole set a hearing for Monday in the case.

"We are pleased the court temporarily paused this deadline while arguments are heard about the legality of the deferred resignation program," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “We continue to believe this program violates the law, and we will continue to aggressively defend our members’ rights.”

The memo told employees, "If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until Sept. 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason),” the memo said.

It also raised the specter of future reductions in force.

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“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce,” the memo said. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”

“While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” the memo said. “These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.”

AFGE was joined by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO, and the National Association of Government Employees in challenging the OPM offer. 

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The groups’ complaint said the directive from OPM is illegal in a variety of ways. “The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal officials from making or authorizing an expenditure or obligation exceeding an amount available in an appropriation or from contracting or obligating for the payment of money before an appropriation is made,” it says. “This is precisely what defendants are purporting to do via the Fork Directive,” which is how the memo is being referred to because its subject line was “Fork in the Road.”

The complaint noted that the government is operating under a continuing resolution that expires March 14.

“There is currently no appropriation in place to cover the salaries of federal employees after that date,” the complaint says. “The directive, however, unequivocally promises all pay and benefits until Sept. 30. As written, defendants are making or authorizing an obligation for the payment of money before an appropriation is made.”

“OPM has offered no explanation or statutory basis for offering the directive, nor has it identified how the federal government intends to pay an unspecified number of workers for not performing work for the next eight months,” the complaint says. “Nor has OPM offered a justification for this apparently unprecedented use of administrative leave.”

The court ruling is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the Trump administration’s actions regarding the federal budget and workforce. Another TRO is in place to pause the funding freeze on federal grants and loans.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the administration is preparing an executive order “to fire thousands of Department of Health and Human Services workers, according to people familiar with the matter.” That would include employees of the Food and Drug Administration.

That follows the appearance by representatives of DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, at the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Maryland. DOGE representatives have been stopping by government agencies to seek personnel data and other information in their attempt to reduce government spending by $2 trillion.

NOAA includes the National Weather Service, which the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 has targeted for privatization.

"[T]he NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations," the foundation's "Mandate for Leadership" says.

In addition, the foundation's blueprint for the new administration says "scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area."

Reps. Jared Huffman and Zoe Lofgren, both California Democrats, issued a statement Tuesday decrying DOGE representatives' interest in NOAA, saying they are "wreaking havoc on the scientific and regulatory systems that protect American families' safety and jobs." Huffman serves as ranking member of the the House Natural Resources Committee, while Lofgren is ranking member of the Science, Space and Technology Committee.