If the Trump administration reaches its goal of cutting 5% to 10% of staff, more than 100,000 people will leave the federal workforce, making it by far the largest layoff in U.S. history. The current record-holder is IBM, which cut 60,000 jobs in 1993.

The judge could opt to delay the buyout further or block it on a more permanent basis when he next considers the legal challenge by the unions at a hearing on Monday.

Musk is offering an unprecedented—and uncertain—financial incentive for federal workers to resign, as part of Trump's plan to restructure the “deep state.”

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily paused President Donald Trump’s plan to offer buyouts to millions of federal workers, an initiative aimed at trimming the federal workforce but that

Employees have until Thursday to decide whether to accept the offer, which the White House hopes will reduce the federal payroll by between 5% and 10%.

The White House expects the number of federal employees who accept the buyout offer to grow rapidly in the leadup to Thursday's deadline.

In interviews, federal employees expressed dread and uncertainty over the looming deadline to tell the Trump administration whether they’ll accept a buyout — or stay on the job.

The administration set a deadline for Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern for employees to decide on the offer. But a federal judge in Massachusetts paused the deadline until at least a hearing set for Monday at 2 p.

A Trump administration spokesperson said more than 40,000 federal employees had taken the buyout and the number is "growing."