282 is committed to updating all employees with the most up to date information regarding cases that effect our Members and non Union Federal Employees.
Spoiler Alert: We are Winning!
Below is a quick summary of the ongoing NTEU suits
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Update as of 3/14:
After additional hearings, the judge extended the order providing relief to employees at the named agencies. He appears to have extended the order to reinstate employees to the additional agencies named in the parties’ amended complaint, filed March 11. The amended lawsuit covers employees at USDA, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, HHS, DHS, HUD, DOJ, DOI, DOL, State, Treasury, Transportation, VA, EPA, GDA, NASA, NSF, OMB, SBA, SSA. Notably, the Judge ordered acting OPM Director Charles Ezell to testify during the hearing to answer to OPM's role in the firings and to a declaration submitted by OPM in February where Ezell argued OPM did not order the firings. Counsel for both OPM and the plaintiffs are due by March 21.
Update as of 3/14 Second order:
On Thursday, 3/13 a second judge from a Maryland federal district granted an emergency request submitted by 19 states and the District of Columbia for emergency relief related to the administration’s mass termination of thousands of probationary employees. The judge ordered that agency heads immediately reinstate terminated employees in 18 agencies – no later than Monday, March 17 or place them on administrative leave.
Probationary employees at the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, General Service Administration, Small Business Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development are to be reinstated.
The judge also prohibited agencies from conducting any future reductions-in-force unless they comply with legally required procedures including advance notice.
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Filed: 1/29
Update: 2/28 Order from Judge
On Jan. 20, 2025, Charles Ezell, Acting Director of OPM, issued a memorandum to all Heads and Acting Heads of Departments and Agencies directing them to “assess employee performance.” OPM then required agencies to gather the names of all probationary employees and send them to OPM. The director of OPM subsequently held a private phone call with several heads of government agencies and the next day OPM followed up with an email directing the firing of all probationary employees that agencies “ have not deemed mission critical.” Tens of thousands of probationary employees were sent standardized notices of termination, drafted by OPM, that falsely state that the terminations were for performance reasons.
AFGE was joined by the AFL-CIO and other groups representing both employees from six agencies (Bureau of Land Management, Department of Defense, Small Business Association, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Parks Service). Impacted members of the general public were also included. AFGE successfully argued that OPM does not have the statutory authority to hire and fire employees at and that OPM directed the firing of employees.
On Thursday, Feb 27, the judge ruled that OPM’s January 20 memo, subsequent email and efforts to direct the termination of employees at the National Parks Service, BLM, Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Small Business Association and FWS were illegal, invalid, and most be rescinded. OPM was ordered to communicate with the agencies by Feb. 27.
Moving forward the judge will have an evidentiary hearing as to claims raised by OPM and AFGE on March 13. While NTEU is not a party to this suit, it does have wide implications for all government employees who were illegally fired. ​​​​​​​
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National Treasury Employees Union v. Donald J. Trump et: 1:25-cv-00170 (Schedule F)
Filed 1/20/25
On Jan 20, 2025, Trump issued an Executive Order that proposes to give the Director of OPM the authority to reclassify thousands of members of the civil service and strip them of their civil-service protections, enabling the president or heads of agencies to fire them at will. NTEU sued to block implementation of the order arguing that it violates the laws Congress passed to provide civil-service protections to the vast majority of civil servants with few exceptions for Senate confirmed political appointees. They also argue that the order wrongly applies employment rules for political appointees to career staff; deprives federal employees of due process rights that they were promised when they were hired; and ignores Office of Personnel Management regulations.
NTEU is seeking an injunction to hault this reclassification.
National Treasure Employees Union et al. v. Donald J Trump et: 1:25-cv-00420 (RIF)
Filed 2/12/2025
On February 11, 2025 Trump issued an Executive Order directing agencies to promptly engage in RIF’s. NTEU and a number of additional agencies have filed this suit saying this skirts Congress’s power over the existence, mission and most importantly the funding of executive agencies and their activities. In addition, this suit states the executive order fails to follow the proper protocal and rational for a RIF according to the Administrative Procedure Act. It also characterises the “deferred resignation program” and mass firing of probationary employees as bullying and unlawful.
National Treasury Employees Union V. Russell Vought 1:25-cv-00380 (CFPB)
Filed: 2/13/25
National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) with Public Citizen Litigation Group and Gupta Wessler LLP, filed a lawsuit against President Trump, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought, to challenge the unlawful dismantling of the CFPB. The lawsuit challenges the actions of Acting Director Russell Vought, arguing that his efforts to “shut down” the CFPB are unconstitutional and violate the Congressional mandate outlined in the Dodd-Frank Act.
National Treasury Employees Union V. Russell Vought
Filed 2/9/25
NTEU’s suit argues that by ordering employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop work, the administration has unlawfully trampled the power of Congress to create a federal agency that it deemed necessary to protecting American consumers. On February 14, the courts issued an agreed order in response to the NTEU’s motion for a temporary restraining order where it orders the following:
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Preservation of CFPB Records: The court ordered that defendants, including their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, must not delete, destroy, remove, or impair any data or other CFPB records covered by the Federal Records Act. This includes any data stored on CFPB premises, physical media, cloud servers, or other storage systems.
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Employment Protections: Defendants are prohibited from terminating any CFPB employee, except for cause related to the specific employee’s performance or conduct. Additionally, no notices of reduction-in-force may be issued to any CFPB employee.
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Financial Restrictions: The court ordered that defendants must not transfer money from the CFPB’s reserve funds, relinquish control or ownership of these funds, return any money to the Federal Reserve or the Department of Treasury, or take any steps to reduce the amount of money available to the CFPB below the amount available as of 4:00 PM on February 14, except to satisfy ordinary operating obligations.
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Institutional Grievances
Last week, thousands of our friends and coworkers were fired for one reason and only one reason: They were probationary or trial employees. The arbitrary firing of thousands of federal employees is appalling—and illegal. We’ve been litigating this issue on multiple fronts:
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The first phase was our lawsuit, where an NTEU-led coalition of unions argued in court for emergency relief. Although the coalition made a strong case of irreparable harm, the judge unfortunately denied the unions’ request, saying that he believed the unions must first bring their case to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). NTEU continues to press our case in court.
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The second phase is a combination of claims filed at the Office of Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, and Institutional Grievances. Yesterday, we sent you information on the Office of Special Counsel claim and how you can join that case. Today, we concentrate on Institutional Grievances.
The judge in our lawsuit found that some of our claims must proceed through the FLRA. This means filing grievances, and we have begun these counterattacks through the administrative process.
NTEU will be filing institutional grievances at every agency where probationary and trial employees have been terminated. Those grievances will challenge the agency’s actions based on law and contract. Keep in mind:
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NTEU represents all bargaining unit employees in the 37 agencies and departments where the union is the exclusive bargaining representative.
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Bargaining unit employees do not have to take any action to be covered by the union’s grievances.
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NTEU will request all available remedies under the law, to include returning probationary and trial employees to work. Plus, back pay for those improperly fired.
Right now, our best position to fight the administration’s attacks on employees is to use all avenues, including the courts and the grievance-arbitration process. We continue to actively discuss the full scope of our legal options with other unions, like-minded organizations, law firms and coalitions at every level.
Tomorrow, we will send you messaging about the Merit Systems Protection Board—yet another path to vigorously fight back against these illegal terminations.
We will continue to keep you informed. If you have not yet filled out NTEU’s form gathering information from terminated NTEU members, please do so now.
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