The Solidarity Docket
Week of April 3, 2026
This week's Docket covers a federal courthouse ordering a cabinet agency to explain why it should not be held in contempt, an appeals court halting the return of more than 1,000 broadcasters to work, a partial government shutdown that is now the longest in American history, and a sweeping reorganization that will force Forest Service employees to relocate or lose their jobs. Across each of these stories runs a common thread: federal workers absorbing the consequences of institutional decisions they had no part in making.
VA Defies Court Order on Union Contract, Faces Contempt
A federal district court has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to show cause why its attempt to re-terminate the union contract covering more than 300,000 VA employees should not be treated as contempt of court.
As readers may recall, on March 13, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted a preliminary injunction reinstating the Master Collective Bargaining Agreement between the VA and the American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council, along with all subsidiary agreements. The court found that the VA's August 2025 termination of the contract was likely retaliatory -- punishment for the union's protected First Amendment activity -- and that employees had suffered real and ongoing harm as a result.
The VA did not comply. On the eve of the March 27 enforcement hearing, the agency issued a new letter purporting to re-terminate the contract. Judge DuBose stated that the re-termination reflected “blatant disrespect for not just this Court's order but for the rule of law” and ordered the VA to explain why its conduct should not be treated as contempt. AFGE has pressed the court to hold the agency accountable and has moved swiftly at each stage to enforce the injunction.
In a separate order issued the same day, the court reinstated collective bargaining agreements covering a coalition of nursing and other healthcare unions at VA facilities, ordering the agency to immediately resume processing grievances and arbitrations.
Voice of America Reinstatement Halted by Appeals Court
The whiplash for Voice of America’s workforce continues. This week, a federal appeals court paused an order that would have returned more than 1,000 Voice of America employees to work, leaving staff who have been sidelined for nearly a year in continued limbo.
Back in March, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth found that the Trump administration's effort to wind down the U.S. Agency for Global Media to its statutory minimum wasunlawful, and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who had been placed on paid administrative leave since last spring. The government objected.
This week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed the reinstatement portion of Judge Lamberth's ruling pending the government's appeal. The panel left intact the underlying finding that the wind-down was illegal. The back-to-work order is now on hold until the appeals court rules on the merits.
The stay does not resolve the broader dispute over USAGM's operations, editorial independence, or the status of hundreds of contractors who were cut loose at the outset. Judge Lamberth has been in repeated conflict with agency leadership over compliance throughout the litigation and had required the government to file a reinstatement plan by April 1.
For the employees affected, the practical result is unchanged from where they have been for most of the past year -- on administrative leave, awaiting a resolution that courts have repeatedly deferred.
DHS Shutdown Drags On; TSA Gets Partial Pay, Attrition Grows
The partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security is now the longest in American history, surpassing 45 days, with no resolution in sight.
Most Transportation Security Administration employees received partial back pay this week covering at least two missed pay periods. The Trump administration directed DHS to use funds from last year's reconciliation legislation to cover TSA paychecks -- a legally novel approach, as that legislation did not appropriate money specifically for TSA operations. Thousands of other DHS employees continue to work without pay.
The Senate passed a bipartisan bill this week that would fund DHS through September 30. The House convened briefly on Thursday, took no action, and recessed until April 14. Any single House member can block passage during the procedural sessions scheduled in the interim. Some House Republicans have indicated they will do so.
The human cost at TSA grows. As of this week, it is reported that more than 500 TSA officers have resigned during the current shutdown, following approximately 1,100 who left during last fall's shutdown. Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill warned a House committee this week that the agency is already in a difficult position heading into the FIFA World Cup, which will require surge staffing at airports across the country beginning this summer. Officers hired today will not complete training in time. More experienced officers -- whose expertise cannot be quickly replaced -- are the ones leaving.
AFGE TSA Council 100 welcomed the partial back pay but was direct about what it does not fix. Members have faced repossessed cars, mounting interest and late fees, and disciplinary action for absences during the shutdown. Other DHS employees remain unpaid with no funding resolution on the immediate horizon.
Forest Service to Shutter Regional Offices, Force Relocations in Sweeping Overhaul
The U.S. Forest Service announced this week that it will move its headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, close its regional offices, and shut down research and development stations as part of a broader USDA reorganization.
Approximately 260 employees will be forced to move to the new Salt Lake City headquarters. Employees in regional offices in Portland, Atlanta, and Milwaukee face the most disruptive changes -- those facilities will close entirely, and affected staff have been told they will be reassigned to locations in Utah, Colorado, or New Mexico. Employees who decline reassignment will lose their jobs. Individual assignment letters are expected in May or June, with relocations to take place between this summer and next.
The agency framed the restructuring as bringing management closer to the lands and communities the Forest Service serves. Employees described a different reality. Reactions at Tuesday's announcement ranged from tears to anger. Staff in the field without computer access missed the announcement entirely. Those who received it said they had little information about what it would mean for their specific positions, programs, or duty stations.
The concern about institutional knowledge is acute. When the Trump administration relocated two USDA offices to Kansas City during his first term, more than half of the affected staff did not make the move. Employees and tribal leaders have raised similar warnings this time -- that forced relocations will accelerate attrition among experienced staff, erode relationships with tribal governments and local communities, and damage the agency's capacity to manage forests and respond to wildfires at a moment when those demands are growing.
Bargaining with unions over the relocations is expected in the coming months.
Additional Litigation Developments
Several cases saw procedural movement this week beyond the developments covered above.
At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government filed a motion on March 31 asking the D.C. Circuit to modify the stay pending appeal and remand the case to allow the CFPB to immediately carry out an updated reduction in force plan. The en banc court heard argument on February 24 and has not yet issued a decision. The government's motion is an effort to move forward with layoffs before that decision issues.
In the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service litigation, the parties filed a stipulation on March 30 withdrawing the government's appeal of the district court's December summary judgment order, which had restored mediation services to bargaining units that had been shut out under the administration's prior policy. The withdrawal of the appeal leaves the district court's ruling in place.
At HHS, the government filed a notice on March 27 stating that it has rescinded several RIF notices that were the subject of ongoing litigation. The underlying case continues.
Two fired immigration judges filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 23, after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that their dismissals complied with the President's constitutional authority. The appeal raises the question of whether the MSPB has jurisdiction to review removals the executive branch characterizes as Article II terminations.
A full and regularly updated summary of litigation affecting federal workers is available on our Litigation Tracker.
The coming weeks bring several pressure points worth watching. The House returns April 14 with a Senate-passed DHS funding bill waiting for action and thousands of federal employees still working without pay. The D.C. Circuit has oral argument in the USAID case on April 23. And the consolidated collective bargaining opinion from the D.C. Circuit -- the decision that will set the terms for most pending federal labor litigation -- remains outstanding with no deadline for issuance.
Rise Up will continue tracking developments here, each week.
In Solidarity,
Suzanne Summerlin
General Counsel Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network
