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3h ago

Federal Unions Sue to Block OMB Shutdown Firing Plan

The filing contests OMB-OPM directives that unions say exceed shutdown authority.

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Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought at a news conference Monday about avoiding a shutdown ahead of the deadline to fund the government.
Helen Luryi, formerly of the Labor Department, wears a shirt that says "tenacious not traumatized," which is a reference to comments made by OMB Director Russell Vought, during a press conference near the U.S. Capitol.

Overview

  • AFGE and AFSCME filed suit in federal court in San Francisco hours before the funding deadline, seeking to halt reductions-in-force during any lapse in appropriations.
  • The complaint asks the court to set aside an OMB memo and related OPM guidance that authorize RIF planning and direct some employees to keep working to carry out layoffs.
  • OMB’s memo tells agencies to consider RIF notices for unfunded work deemed not consistent with the president’s priorities, a departure unions say conflicts with past practice of furloughs and back pay.
  • The filing cites President Trump’s remark that a shutdown allows “irreversible” actions like cutting large numbers of employees, and names OMB Director Russ Vought and OPM Director Scott Kupor as defendants.
  • Reporting indicates agencies covering roughly two-thirds of federal workers have published plans favoring temporary furloughs, and a separate Hatch Act complaint targets HUD’s partisan shutdown messaging.