The largest union representing federal employees is suing the Trump administration over its efforts to shrink the federal government.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents roughly 800,000 workers, alleges that an email sent to employees violates the law and the Constitution. The email, with the subject line “Fork in the Road,” was sent to all federal workers offering seven months of paid leave if they resign by Friday, and a requirement to work in person five days a week if they don’t.
Angela Digeronimo leads AFGE Local 2369, the chapter responsible for the almost 600 Social Security employees in New Jersey, and she says the in-person requirement violates the signed employment contract that was collectively bargained.
“We have provisions that were lawfully negotiated, and we don’t know if that is going to be something that is going to stand,” she said. “The public comes to us, and we can’t process what they need timely — that adds to their anxiety and it creates a stressful atmosphere for all of us.”
Hanan Isaacs, president and senior attorney at the Kingston Law Group in Princeton, says the tactics being used by Elon Musk to reduce the federal workforce mirror his efforts to trim the workforce at Twitter (now X) after buying the social media platform and are likely illegal due to the extra protections afforded to federal employees. Musk, possibly the world’s richest person whose businesses receive substantial government contracts, is a “special government employee,” according to the White House.
“With what’s going on in Washington, the courts are the only bulwark against that type of behavior,” Isaacs said. “That’s why you’re seeing lawsuits being filed.”
