The Solidarity Docket
March 5, 2026
This week's docket covers the ongoing DHS partial shutdown, accelerating Schedule Policy/Career litigation ahead of a March 9 implementation date, a critical hearing on FEMA staffing cuts, and new data on federal science workforce losses.
DHS Shutdown Enters Third Week; Workers Begin Missing Pay
The partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security entered its third week this week. TSA and FEMA employees have begun receiving partial paychecks. U.S. Coast Guard civilian employees face delayed pay. Uniformed Coast Guard personnel are being paid on time. Approximately 8% of the DHS workforce is on furlough.
The House voted Thursday on a DHS appropriations bill, its second attempt, but the measure again stalled in the Senate. Democrats have conditioned their support on imposing limits on ICE and Customs and Border Protection operations, including restrictions on enforcement at sensitive locations, warrant requirements, and agent identification requirements. Republicans declined to include those provisions. The two sides have exchanged offers but remain far apart.
AFGE has called on Congress to ensure DHS employees are paid on time. Workers have already endured a 43-day shutdown last fall and a four-day shutdown earlier this year.
Amended Lawsuit Challenges Schedule Policy/Career Ahead of March 9 Implementation Date
An amended and consolidated lawsuit was filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland challenging Schedule Policy/Career, set to take effect March 9.
Plaintiffs include Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, AFGE, AFSCME, and the AFL-CIO. The complaint alleges that Executive Order 14171 and OPM's implementing rules strip civil servants of due process protections and would allow the President to move any position into Schedule Policy/Career without procedural requirements, with no right to challenge the reclassification at the MSPB.
Plaintiffs seek a declaration that EO 14171 and anticipated future Schedule Policy/Career executive orders are null and void, and an order barring OPM from implementing them.
Ninth Circuit Clears Way for Union Removals
In AFGE v. Trump, the Ninth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement of Executive Order 14251, which removes large portions of the federal workforce from coverage under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (ie: the right to have a union) on national security grounds.
The court held that the government demonstrated the president would have issued the order regardless of any protected union activity, and that the EO's stated national security rationale falls within the discretion Congress granted the Executive under 5 U.S.C. 7103(b)(1). The court acknowledged the vacatur causes real harm to affected unions, some agencies have already begun terminating collective bargaining agreements, but found the harm potentially reversible if the unions prevail on the merits.
Excluded agencies include the Departments of State, Justice, and Veterans Affairs, the EPA, and nearly all of the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Treasury, along with subdivisions of Agriculture, Homeland Security, and HHS. NTEU and other unions continue to press related challenges and have stated they will hold agencies to existing contracts.
Court Orders Expedited Discovery in FEMA Staffing Case
Also this week, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California heard argument on AFGE's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent FEMA from issuing reductions in force and nonrenewals to its on-call and emergency response employees. AFGE alleges DHS political appointees directed cuts of roughly half of FEMA's workforce (approx. 11,000 positions) over the objections of FEMA supervisors.
Judge Illston indicated she was inclined to deny the preliminary injunction on the current record but did not rule from the bench. Instead, the court ordered expedited discovery.
The court noted that defense counsel presented a version of events markedly different from the sworn declaration of FEMA's Senior Official Performing the Duties of Administrator.
We are following all cases impacting the federal workforce on our Litigation Tracker.
Retiree Benefits Paperwork, Missing Tax Documents, and What Workers Need to Know Now
House Democrats have sent inquiries to OPM asking why federal retirees are not receiving correct tax documents. Delays in delivery of tax documents leave retirees facing filing deadlines with incomplete information.
This is one of many benefits administration issues creating real hardship for current and recently separated federal employees navigating an increasingly uncertain landscape.
Rise Up is partnering with NARFE to address these kinds of concerns on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EDT for Navigating Federal Benefits in Uncertain Times: What Current and Recently Separated Feds Need to Know. The session will be available on demand through our website. Watch for the link if you are signed up as a volunteer or worker with Rise Up.
Science Workforce Down Nearly 95,000; Federal R&D Spending Falls Sharply
A new analysis from the Partnership for Public Service finds the federal science workforce declined by nearly 95,000 employees (11.9%) between September 2024 and December 2025. More than a third of recently separated civil servants worked at science agencies, including NIH, the FDA, the National Park Service, and NASA. More than 10,000 workers with STEM Ph.D.s left government in 2025.
Federal spending on scientific research and development contracts fell 23% in fiscal year 2025. Spending on science agency project grants dropped 24%. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saw a 100% reduction in R&D contract obligations. CDC saw a 79% decline and has lost approximately one quarter of its total staff.
Congress largely rejected the administration's proposed science budget cuts in the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills. The administration has nonetheless reduced science spending through grant cancellations at NIH and the National Science Foundation.
In Solidarity,
Suzanne Summerlin
General Counsel Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network
