A judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with its plan to cull the federal workforce until at least next week.
Senior District Judge George O’Toole extended a deadline that was set to kick in at the end of the day Thursday so as to allow time for additional legal briefs to be submitted ahead of a hearing at 2 p.m. Monday.
He also instructed the Trump administration to swiftly notify workers of the order freezing implementation of the “deferred resignation” program — which excuses government employees from the White House’s return-to-office mandate and allows them to maintain their pay and benefits through Sept. 30.
O’Toole, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, noted that his freeze was just “table-setting” for the hearing and was not an indication of his eventual ruling.
