Employees of the federal government who have been waffling about whether or not to take the "Fork in the Road" buyout offer from the Trump administration have been given the gift of some breathing room, courtesy of U.S. District Judge George O'Toole, a Clinton appointee.

With the midnight Thursday decision deadline looming for millions of federal workers, O'Toole hit the brakes and scheduled a hearing for Monday during which he'll consider blocking the buyout offer altogether.

"I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called 'Fork Directive' pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues. I believe that's as far as I want to go today," said O'Toole, who described the brief hearing as a “table setting session” just to schedule arguments for Monday afternoon. He did not say anything about the merits of the dispute over the buyout.

As RedState's Susie Moore previously reported, the Trump administration—who've been very transparent about their intention to reduce the size and scope of the federal government—sent a letter to nearly all of the federal workforce, which comes in at about two million strong, offering them the opportunity to dip out of government service effective 11:59 p.m. Thursday while continuing to be paid through September 30, 2025.

There's good news for federal employees who were unhappy to learn they were expected to return to working in the office under the new Trump administration: They have another option — a buyout. 

The White House will issue a memo Tuesday offering to pay federal workers who don't want to return to the office through Sept. 30, as long as they resign by Feb. 6, an administration official tells Axios.

Why it matters: It's an acceleration in President Trump's already unprecedented purge of the federal workforce.

What they're saying: "The government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration's plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards. We're five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable," a senior administration official tells Axios.

It's being called the "Fork offer" because the email sent to federal employees had the subject line "Fork in the Road" and is almost identical to an email Elon Musk, the DOGE-master General, sent to Twitter employees soon after he purchased the social media platform. Notably, Musk was able to cut an estimated 80 percent of the Twitter workforce with nary a hiccup to the site's operations and success.

By comparison, the Trump administration was only looking to cut the federal workforce by 5-10 percent when the offer was emailed out last week by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). It was thought, as of a few days ago, that around 20,000 employees had accepted the offer. That number rose to 40,000 on Wednesday, and it was expected that many thousands more would accept as the minutes ticked down to the deadline.

Three public sector unions representing around 800,000 federal employees had balked at the buyout offer, arguing that OPM failed to provide a legal basis for the action; there were also fears that the Trump administration would fail to follow through on the buyouts once they had the resignations in hand. It appears that Judge O'Toole is inclined to agree with the unions.

Department of Justice lawyers will now notify every federal employee who received the buyout offer of the deadline delay.