Federal unions sue over buyout offer, saying it "threatens employees" with layoffs
Three unions representing a combined 800,000 federal civil servants are suing the Trump administration over its plan to offer buyouts to federal employees, arguing that it "threatens employees" to take the "arbitrary" offer.
The three unions – the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Association of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – argue that the Office of Personnel Management failed to provide a legal basis for the buyout offer, leaving open the possibility that the government might not follow through with the buyout once federal employees agree to resign.

The lawsuit also argues the buyout’s promise of payments through September violates the law, because the current appropriation for federal agencies expires in March. Moreover, the buyout is unfair, the lawsuit argues, because it was made alongside a threat of future layoffs.
“To leverage employees into accepting the offer and resigning, the Fork Directive threatens employees with eventual job loss in the event that they refuse to resign,” the lawsuit said.
Overall, the lawsuit alleged that OPM rushed the offer with a questionable legal basis, largely mimicking Elon Musk’s management style following his takeover of Twitter.
The lawsuit comes as at least 20,000 federal workers -- roughly 1% of the civilian federal workforce -- have accepted the deferred resignation offer since last week, ABC News reported.
-ABC News' Peter Charalambous