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

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.

A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s plan to push out federal workers by offering them financial incentives.

More than 2 million federal employees across the country face an end-of day deadline to make a life-altering decision: resign or stay in their jobs.

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

A judge temporarily halted the Trump administration's federal buyout program. MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin breaks it down. Author of "Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again" Elaine Kamarck and the Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols join Katy Tur to weigh in.

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.