A Boston federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s resignation offer to federal civilian employees on Thursday.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the deferred resignation program,

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.

Eligible federal workers must decide by 11:59 pm ET on Thursday whether to take the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, which will allow them to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September.

Here’s what we know about the deferred resignation program offered to federal employees by the Trump administration.

The scheme is part of an ongoing effort by the new administration to slash the size of the federal bureaucracy.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's proposal to federal employees to take government buyouts until a hearing can be held on Monday.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston did not express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2 p.m. EST.