Tens of thousands of US public servants were released to accept compensation from Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday after a federal judge decided that the measure could proceed.
About 75,000 workers signed up for, a spokesman for the US Personnel Management Office, equivalent to 3% of the civil labor force.
The president’s administration promised to pay salaries by October without demanding they work, although unions warned that the offer is not reliable.
Unions representing federal workers filed a lawsuit to stop the program and postponed it for six days while US district judge George O’Toole in Boston considered the issue.
The judge decided on Wednesday that the unions had no legal legitimacy to file the lawsuit and said that the issue needed to be addressed in other forums before reaching court.
The administration said the program is now closed to new candidates.
“There is no further doubts: the deferred dismissal program was legal and a valuable option for federal employees,” the personnel management office in a statement said.
The unions involved in the dispute did not immediately said they would appeal to the judge’s decision or seek other options.
“Today’s decision is a setback in the struggle for dignity and justice for public servants. But it is not the end of this fight, ”said Everett Kelly, president of the American Federation of Government employees, which represents 800,000 federal employees.
Acquisition is one of the many approaches it is taking to cut a 2.3 million civil labor force that it criticized as ineffective and biased against it.
He also ordered government agencies to prepare for comprehensive job cuts, and several have already begun to dismiss recent contractors who have no total job security.
Authorities were instructed to prepare personnel cuts of up to 70% in some agencies, the sources say.
Trump’s offer to pay wages and benefits by October may not be undeniable. Current spending laws expire on March 14, and there is no guarantee that salaries would be funded beyond that point.
US Department of Justice lawyers have described the initiative as a “human output ramp” to those frustrated by Trump’s larger plans to reduce the size of the workforce and end the ability of many to work at home.
Unions representing federal officials argued in their process that the program was “surprisingly arbitrary” and violates a law that prevents agencies from spending more money than congressional approved.
They warned that the acquisition, which does not apply to border guards, air traffic controllers and some other workers, could arbitrarily reduce the workforce and interrupt vital government services.
Democratic unions and prosecutors have filed several other processes challenging the rapid reformulation of the government and obtained some initial victories.
In a separate action filed on Wednesday, five unions filed an action to block what they called a possible mass dismissal of hundreds of thousands of workers who resist pressure to accept layoffs.
