Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, with a coalition of 20 state attorneys general, is today standing with federal employees throughout the nation in support of a challenge to the Trump administration’s federal “buyout” plan. The so-called “Fork in the Road” directive is an attempt to force federal workers to choose, giving them only days to decide between accepting a legally fraught “buyout” and potentially being terminated from their jobs.
Raoul and the coalition today moved to file an amicus brief in support of a motion for a temporary restraining order filed by the plaintiffs – the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); AFGE Local 3707; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and the National Association of Government Employees – against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) “Fork in the Road” directive (Fork directive), issued Jan. 28. The directive gave most federal employees little more than a week – until Feb. 6 – to accept “deferred resignations,” which purportedly would allow federal workers to resign and retain pay and benefits without showing up to work until Sept. 30, 2025. The implicit threat behind the directive was that their positions may otherwise be eliminated anyway.
“Federal workers fill roles providing essential services to millions of Americans: from supporting veterans, to partnering with states like Illinois to investigate offenders who prey on our children,” Raoul said. “The abrupt loss of vital federal employees would have a devastating effect on our residents who depend on the expertise and services federal workers provide, as well as our state economies. The administration’s so-called buyout offer is a poorly-thought-out attempt to intimidate federal employees out of their jobs, with no guarantee they would receive the benefits promised under the directive. I stand with our federal workers against this attempt to sow confusion and anxiety.”
The plaintiff unions filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, emphasizing that the directive and associated FAQs – which were revised multiple times – caused widespread confusion and distress among federal employees, who were faced with an arbitrary deadline based on a directive that the plaintiff unions assert is illegal and contrary to federal ethics regulations. On Feb. 6, the district court stayed the Fork directive’s purported deadline until Monday, Feb. 10, with a hearing to be held at 2 p.m. EST in Boston.
As Attorney General Raoul emphasized in the coalition’s proposed amicus brief, the indiscriminate loss of indispensable federal employees could have a devastating effect on cooperative aspects of federal, state and local government – from those who care for veterans, to those who arrive when natural disaster strikes. The brief also describes the coercive nature of the directive to the nation’s public servants. Raoul and the coalition urged the court to grant a temporary restraining order to prevent this harm to federal workers and to protect the public interest.
Joining Attorney General Raoul in the proposed brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
