If you're a federal worker, you have a big decision to make by midnight.

That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post.

I'm Hannah Jewell.

It's Thursday, February 6th.

Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories.

Federal employees have until 11.59 p.m. Eastern to decide whether they will take a deferred resignation.

That is the Trump administration's offer to quit now and maintain pay and benefits through the end of September.

There are 2.3 million federal workers.

The White House says that most of them are eligible for the buyout, and that layoffs would be likely if too few employees choose to quit. As of last night, a person familiar with the numbers

said that 40,000 people had accepted the offer so far.

But Democrats have called the offer a scam, and federal worker unions filed a lawsuit seeking to delay the deadline.

There will be a hearing for that today.

Meanwhile, the Post's personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary says workers should approach the deal with caution.

She interviewed Nick Bednar, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.

He said the offer probably isn't legal.

We don't know if this offer is valid.

We don't know if a court's going to uphold it. We have at least

one lawsuit seeking to strike down the entirety of the offer. And so anyone who signs takes a very

significant risk that this offer won't ultimately be upheld. And that risk might be appropriate for

some people, but for a lot of people, it's

probably not going to be worth it. If you are a federal worker or have questions about this story,

you can ask Michelle and other post experts in a live chat today at 1 p.m. Eastern. You can find that

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