This afternoon, a federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration could move forward with a buyout offer aimed at most federal workers. He concluded the unions who had sued to block the offer lacked standing to challenge it.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Massachusetts lifted a previous temporary order that blocked the buyout while he considered arguments by unions challenging it.
The judge, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said in a five-page opinion that the unions lacked proper legal standing to challenge the buyout program because they were not directly impacted by it. He also said aggrieved employees could first bring any claims through an administrative review process.
A little less than 3% of the federal workforce had accepted the offer, which was fewer than the administration had hoped for.
More than 60,000 workers…
