As you may recall, in spring 2018, President Trump issued executive orders 13836, 13837, and 13839 which, among other things, purported to eliminate federal workers’ rights, such as fair promotions and appraisals, union representation, and mutually beneficial collective bargaining agreements.
On June 13, 2018, NFFE filed a joint lawsuit with the IAMAW and 11 other federal workers’ unions against President Trump and OPM, in response to the EOs. On August 24th, 2018, the federal unions won a challenge in federal court after petitioning to strike down provisions in the executive orders. The government soon after appealed that decision.
The D.C. District court limits the number of attorneys who may present oral arguments on appeal. Due to the large number of federal unions involved in the original lawsuit, arguments were made by Andres Grajales of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and Greg O’Duden of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).
Judges Griffin, Randolph, and Srinivasan will consider the briefs and arguments submitted by the union and the government and are expected to take a few months to issue a final decision. If the government is successful, and the injunction against the executive orders is lifted, the NFFE legal team will consider its options to appeal.
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