The Trump government may continue its severance program for government officials. A judge said that the unions were not legally authorized to contest the measure.
A US judge has now cleared the way for the intended reduction of federal employees by the Trump government. District judge George O'Toole from the state of Massachusetts raised the injunction that he had only issued last week on Wednesday.
Unions “not authorized” to complain
He justified the step by the fact that the unions were not legally authorized to contest the measure. The unions did not have the necessary direct interest in the directive, the judge explained. Rather, they would contest a policy “the other concerns, especially employees of the executive”.
Trump wants to move hundreds of thousands of government employees through financial incentives to terminate. The “Buyout” program was launched by Elon Musk, who acts as Trump's consultant for reducing federal expenses.
Unions speak of “unprecedented action”
Numerous federal employees had received an e-mail with the offer last month to receive all payments and services by September 30th if the termination is voluntary. Your tasks would be reduced or deleted in the meantime. Eric Hamilton, a lawyer of the Ministry of Justice, described the plan as a “human way out” for federal employees who gave their lives to work in the home office and did not want to return to the office.
The unions considered the plan to be illegal. In their complaint, they argued that the government's statement of severance payment was “surprisingly arbitrary” and violated the anti -deficiency law. It is a federal law that prohibits the authorities to spend more money than was approved by the congress.
Elena Goldstein, who spoke for the employees, said the program was an “unprecedented action” and described it as an excuse to dismiss employees and replace them with people who match the government.
Already 75,000 registrations for the program
The offer was sent to around two million full-time federal employees, with the exception of those who work in the areas of immigration and national security, as well as the US mail service staff. According to the White House, around 75,000 federal employees had registered for the program by Friday.
As the Washington Post reports, citing insiders, the budgets of all federal authorities are to be reduced by an average of 30 to 40 percent. The focus of the cuts is said to be considerable personnel reduction.
