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Re:

Court Delayed the Federal Deferred Resignation Deadline—Then the Program Closed

A Massachusetts judge temporarily stayed enforcement of the federal Deferred Resignation Program’s February 6, 2025 deadline. The court lifted the stay on February 12, and OPM says the program is closed.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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Yes. A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the Deferred Resignation Program’s original February 6, 2025 deadline. The pause lasted until February 12, when the judge dissolved the temporary restraining order and denied further preliminary relief. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) says the program is now closed and it will not accept resignations received after 7:20 p.m. ET on February 12, 2025.

What happened to the February 6 deadline?

OPM announced the program on January 28, 2025, and its February 4 memorandum said the offer was open through February 6. Four labor organizations sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on February 4, challenging the directive under the Administrative Procedure Act.

On February 6, Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. ordered the government not to enforce the closing deadline until further order. OPM extended the deadline to February 10 to comply. After a February 10 hearing on the unions’ request for preliminary relief, the judge kept the stay in place while he considered the request. The court’s February 12 order then dissolved the temporary restraining order and denied further preliminary injunctive relief. Read the court’s February 12 order in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO et al. v. Ezell et al.

What did the judge rule?

The unions had asked the court to restrain OPM and its acting director from enforcing the deadline. Judge O’Toole concluded that the plaintiffs had not established likely success on the merits, citing a lack of Article III standing and the court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction over the claims asserted. He wrote: “For the foregoing reasons the temporary restraining order previously entered is DISSOLVED and further preliminary injunctive relief is DENIED.”

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This was a decision on the unions’ request for preliminary relief. It should not be read as a categorical ruling that every term of the program was lawful.

Is the Deferred Resignation Program still open?

No. OPM’s current program page states: “The Deferred Resignation Program is now closed. Any resignations received after 7:20pmET, February 12, 2025 will not be accepted.” That is OPM’s stated cutoff; employees with an individual case should confirm their status with their agency. See OPM’s current program status page.

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Possible extension for an approved absence

OPM’s FAQ says deferred resignation is generally unavailable after the program closed. It describes a limited exception for people who missed the deadline because they were on approved absence for some or all of the offer period: those employees are entitled to request an extension, and agencies may grant reasonable extensions. This is general OPM guidance, not a guarantee that a particular request will be approved. Read OPM’s FAQ.

What did the original offer provide?

Under the terms OPM set out in its February 4 memorandum, eligible participants who chose deferred resignation would generally stop active work but retain pay and benefits through September 30, 2025. OPM said participants could look for another job, would be exempt from applicable in-person work requirements, and might qualify for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority. OPM characterized its pay-and-benefits assurances as binding on the government; these are the agency’s stated terms, not independently verified outcomes for every employee. Read OPM’s February 4 memorandum.

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Participation was voluntary, but the offer did not apply to everyone. OPM’s FAQ lists exclusions that include military personnel, U.S. Postal Service employees, certain immigration-enforcement and national-security positions, public-safety positions, and other categories excluded by an employing agency. Eligibility and any case-specific extension should be checked with the employee’s agency.

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What GAO later reported about the program’s costs

In a 2026 review, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported $9.5 billion in 2025 salary costs for paid administrative leave—six times the 2023 amount—and estimated that about $6.7 billion of the 2025 total was associated with the Deferred Resignation Program. GAO calculated the program-associated estimate using program assumptions and internal time-and-attendance data supplied by payroll service providers. Read GAO’s report.

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These figures are salary costs for paid administrative leave, not a definitive calculation of the program’s net savings or costs. GAO said OPM could not readily isolate short-term leave costs for workforce-reduction efforts from other paid administrative leave and flagged limitations in the underlying data. In the same review, GAO reported a 435 percent increase in agencies’ paid administrative-leave use from 2023 to 2025. It also found that reported leave was 144 percent higher in pay periods with a public holiday across 2023 through early 2025, while warning that reporting limitations could overstate actual use.

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