Chonda Loder was drawn to working in the federal government because it promised stability. She joined the military when she was 17, and more recently has been working for the Department of Veterans Affairs. "It was the security for me," she tells CNBC Make It, "but it's a roller coaster right now."

Loder, 33, is one of over 2 million federal employees who received an email late January from the Trump administration offering "deferred resignations" from workers who quit by Thursday, February 6. The offer states that workers who accept the resignation will no longer have to work but will be paid with benefits until the end of September.

A week of confusion ensued. Federal officials, union leaders and legal experts who questioned the legality of the offer and whether those who take it would actually be able to receive payment warned workers not to accept.

A federal judge in Boston paused the Trump administration's buyout offer just hours before the deadline. The resignation plan will be on pause until a court hearing Monday, February 10, when the judge will consider arguments by employee unions challenging the legality of the buyout, and by a lawyer for the Trump administration defending the plan.

More than 60,000 people — about 3% of the federal workforce — have accepted.

Loder is one of them. On Wednesday morning, she submitted her resignation from her job she describes as "rewarding" as a purchasing agent with the VA.

The decision came down to needing a flexible and supportive job that will accommodate her role as a mom to two young girls, a kindergartener and 1-year-old, she says. She teleworks from her home outside Bowling Green, Kentucky, and lives 90 miles from her nearest physical office.

It's not the first time she says she's experienced job instability. In 2023, she took a contract job serving the Department of Energy that was supposed to last one year but the contract abruptly ended after six months, she says.

More recently, the Trump administration's announcement calling the end of remote work for federal workers "was an alarm to me," Loder says.

Overall, she says, "it doesn't seem like my position is that secure and family-friendly position that it used to be."

What comes next: 'Who knows if we'll even get paid?'

Although Loder has a lot of questions, she says she has only received general FAQ messages from HR. "I haven't even gotten a response from my resignation email yet, so I don't know if it's even been received, if it's been processed — who knows if we'll even get paid?" Loder says. "There's just so much confusion."

In the meantime, Loder is still doing her job ensuring care for veterans while waiting to hear more from HR. As far as she knows, she'll stay in her role until the end of the month. She's not sure how the resignation plan will work for her hospital-focused job "because we do have the care of veterans that we need to make sure gets taken care of. So I have no clue," she says.

In 2023, she started an LLC and opened her own gym. Her fiancé is self-employed and will enter a busy period in the spring and summer, "so that does help alleviate [things] if I'm not getting paid," Loder says.

Ultimately, she plans to do "whatever is going to be good for my family."

Loder still wrestles with her own decision and whether it's the best for her family and career moving forward. She supports her federal workforce colleagues making tough decisions to stay or go.

Of course, Loder is part of just a small minority of federal workers who have accepted the resignation offer.

One 24-year-old in Washington, DC, who asked to stay anonymous to protect her job security, says she will not be resigning from her government health-care role. "The lack of clarity and the information that we are being given regarding the deferred resignation program is really making it difficult for people to make an informed decision," she says.

Even so, she worries for her job future given the Trump administration's plans to drastically reduce federal spending and headcount.

"Every day, I open my computer to a potential new email from [the Office of Personnel Management]. I'm just scared one of these days that email is going to say my position is terminated," she says. "Millions of us are dealing with it."

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