The Trump administration secured a significant legal victory on Thursday as a federal judge ruled that its federal workforce buyout program, aimed at downsizing government employment, can proceed. The ruling marks a critical moment for President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, a priority of his administration since returning to the White House.
The initiative, known as the “Fork in the Road” program, offers federal employees a severance package amounting to roughly eight months of salary and benefits if they voluntarily resign by a specified deadline. So far, approximately 75,000 federal employees—roughly 3% of the civilian workforce—have accepted the offer, signaling the largest voluntary workforce reduction in recent history.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the federal bureaucracy as inefficient and biased against him. His administration has also ordered government agencies to prepare for sweeping job cuts, and some departments have already begun laying off recent hires who lack full job security.
The program, developed with input from billionaire entrepreneur and DOGE leader Elon Musk, who advises on government spending reductions, aims to streamline operations and cut federal expenditures.
“75,000 people accepted the buyout program. That’s going to save millions of dollars for the American taxpayers and that’s exactly what we wanted,” Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “We put a deadline on it, and the deadline was reached. 75,000 people accepted the offer.”
A ruling from U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston lifted the temporary restraining order imposed on the program last week. In his opinion, Judge O’Toole determined that the unions representing federal employees lacked the legal standing to challenge the directive, as the resignation offer did not directly impact them.
“The plaintiffs here are not directly impacted by the directive,” O’Toole wrote in his ruling. “Instead, they allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members’ questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm.”
“The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees. This is not sufficient,” the judge continued.
The directive allowed certain executive branch employees to resign by September 30, 2025, while still receiving their salaries until the fiscal year’s end, with the option to pursue other employment. The unions argued the directive was unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and sought a temporary restraining order to halt the February 6 deadline for employees to accept the offer.
The court initially paused enforcement of the deadline but ultimately ruled against the unions, dissolving the restraining order and denying further injunctive relief. The judge’s decision allows the program to proceed as planned, paving the way for the thousands of federal employees who have already opted into the buyout to step away from their positions officially.
The ruling marks a courtroom win for Trump, whose administration has faced numerous legal challenges to its policy initiatives. Over the past few weeks, the administration has been entangled in legal battles regarding executive orders, regulatory rollbacks, and personnel decisions, with courts frequently blocking or delaying key policies.
