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By: FEDweek StaffA federal appeals court has agreed to leave in place an injunction a lower court issued against portions of three Trump administration executive orders while the challenge filed by a group of federal employee unions takes its next step.
The Justice Department had asked the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia lift the injunction in light of the most recent ruling in the case—that court ruled that the unions should have gone first to the FLRA rather than into the federal court system. The unions in turn had asked the appeals court to leave the injunction in place pending a further appeal that they plan to file, as is the appeals court’s standard practice.
The court’s new action means that certain portions of the three orders will remain barred at least until it decides whether to accept a request by the unions to reconsider the decision of its three-judge panel. The unions have until about the end of the month to file that appeal. Afterward the Justice Department would file a reply and the court would decide whether to accept the case.
The injunction bars agencies from carrying out provisions including restrictions on the amounts and allowable uses of union time and on union access to agency working space and equipment; the subjects over which agencies will negotiate; and the opportunities for employees to improve before being disciplined on performance grounds.
