DHS Rules Put on Ice

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has issued an injunction that blocks at least for now portions of the new Department of Homeland Security personnel rules. The judge held, as unions have argued for many months, that the rules exceed the authority DHS has under its authorizing law to design its own personnel system, particularly regarding the allowable scope of bargaining and the rights of management to override negotiated contracts. Similarly, the judge ruled that the policies would infringe on the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s role, set by separate law, in overseeing federal labor-management issues. The injunction applies only to the labor relations aspects of the DHS rules and does not directly affect other parts of those rules, such as pay, job classification, and other areas. DHS potentially could go ahead with those policies as it had planned; however, union rights are intertwined with many of those policies, so the course ahead is in doubt. Unions have called on DHS to go back to the drawing board to give them more of a role in the rule writing. However, the government could appeal the judge’s order.