The Solidarity Docket
Week of April 10, 2026
This week's docket covers a proposed OPM rule that would give the federal government access to detailed medical records for millions of workers and their families, a sweeping Forest Service restructuring, a partial DHS funding gap leaving TSA officers and CBP agents without pay, and several litigation developments across the federal workforce landscape.
OPM Seeks Access to Medical Records for 8 Million Federal Workers and Their Families
A regulatory notice from the Office of Personnel Management would require 65 insurance companies to provide OPM with monthly reports containing individually identifiable health data on federal workers, retirees, members of Congress, mail carriers, and their immediate family members, more than 8 million people in total. The data would include prescriptions filled and treatments sought from doctors.
Legal and health policy experts are questioning both the legality of the proposal and OPM's ability to safeguard the information once collected. Among the concerns raised: how the administration might use records relating to employees who have sought abortions or transgender care. The proposal has been described as vague enough that reviewers were uncertain exactly what records OPM intends to collect.
Forest Service Restructuring Draws Union Condemnation
The Trump administration announced it will relocate the U.S. Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City and eliminate all regional offices. NFFE-IAM National President Randy Erwin condemned the move as “chaos,” noting that affected employees include research scientists conducting critical forestry studies and recreation technicians who keep public lands safe and accessible. “Uprooting their careers and blowing up the structure they work within is not a reform,” Erwin said.
NFFE-IAM represents tens of thousands of Forest Service employees under a Master Agreement and has put the agency on notice that it must bargain over the impact and implementation of the restructuring before any worker is relocated, reassigned, or separated.
The announcement comes weeks after 174 workers at the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada and eastern California voted to join NFFE-IAM -- an organizing victory the union cited as a direct response to escalating workforce disruption.
Workforce Disruption Carried a $4.5 Billion Price Tag
A new cost analysis from the Partnership for Public Service calculates that federal employees who accepted the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer -- the so-called “fork in the road” -- cost the government approximately $4.5 billion in salary and benefits while those employees were not working. The analysis also quantifies spending associated with the probationary firings, subsequent rehirings, and reductions in force that took place throughout 2025. The full report is calledThe Cost to Our Economy.VOA Employees Who Took Voluntary Separation Seek to Rescind Agreements
Four former Voice of America employees who accepted voluntary separation offers in 2025 are now seeking to have those agreements set aside in light of a recent ruling that VOA's dismantling was illegal. The former employees argue that because the court has ordered the reinstatement of staff who were forcibly removed, those who departed voluntarily under legally compromised circumstances should also be permitted to return. The case raises broader questions about the enforceability of separation agreements entered into during a period a court has since found to involve unlawful agency action.
Federal Agencies Use Official Accounts to Post Easter Religious Content
Several Cabinet departments used official government social media accounts to post Easter messages affirming Christian doctrine. The Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice all posted religious content on official platforms.
Critics argued that government agencies promoting the doctrine of a particular faith raises serious Establishment Clause concerns. The posts are consistent with a pattern this administration has established of using official government infrastructure to advance religious and political messaging -- a pattern the courts have already addressed in other contexts. In AFGE v. Department of Education, a federal court found the government violated employees' First Amendment rights by inserting partisan messaging into employees' out-of-office emails.
Litigation Roundup
CFPB: The government filed a motion on March 31 to modify the stay pending appeal and remand to the district court to allow the Bureau to carry out an updated RIF plan immediately. The full D.C. Circuit has not yet ruled following en banc oral argument on February 24. The motion signals the government is seeking to move on staffing reductions before that decision issues.
VOA: Judge Lamberth ordered the reinstatement of Voice of America journalists and U.S. Agency for Global Media staff. The government appealed and moved to stay the order. The stay was denied but the reinstatement deadline was vacated. Plaintiffs filed a motion to enforce on April 6.
USAID: Oral argument in American Foreign Service Association v. Trump is scheduled before the D.C. Circuit on April 23. The appeal concerns the district court's dismissal of AFSA's challenge to the USAID dismantlement for lack of jurisdiction. A ruling reinstating jurisdiction could reopen federal courts as a venue for challenging agency abolishments that have so far been insulated from review.
These cases and more can be followed in ourLitigation Tracker.
FY2027 Budget Proposes No Civilian Pay Raise
The administration's FY2027 budget proposal includes a 7% pay raise for military personnel and no raise for civilian federal employees.
In Solidarity,
Suzanne Summerlin
General Counsel Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network
