Judge pauses Musk plan for mass US govt cull

By AFP
February 07, 2025
People gather to protest outside the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) headquarters after the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was charged with oversight of OPM, in Washington, U.S. February 2, 2025. — Reuters/File
People gather to protest outside the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) headquarters after the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was charged with oversight of OPM, in Washington, U.S. February 2, 2025. — Reuters/File 

WASHINGTON: A judge paused a scheme masterminded by billionaire Elon Musk to slash the US government by encouraging federal workers to quit through a mass buyout by midnight on Thursday.

The federal judge in Massachusetts ordered a temporary injunction on the deadline given by Musk for the country´s more than two million government employees to quit with eight months´ pay or risk being fired.

The deadline is now extended to Monday when US District Judge George O´Toole will hold a hearing on the merits of the case brought by labor unions, US media reported.

Musk, the world´s richest person and President Donald Trump´s biggest donor, is in charge of a free-ranging Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that aims to radically downsize federal agencies.

According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, more than 40,000 staff have so far accepted the buyout deal -- a relatively small number.

Unions representing some 800,000 civil servants and Democratic members of Congress are resisting the scheme and have challenged the legality of threats to fire civil servants.