Appeals court stays order that upheld VA’s union contract

The Department of Veterans Affairs has scored a win in an ongoing lawsuit over the termination of its collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees.

A federal appeals court on Friday granted VA’s request to pause a preliminary injunction from August, which had ordered the agency — for the third time — to recognize its union contract while litigation continued.

A three-judge panel said in an Oct. 2 stay decision that VA would likely succeed in its argument that the August order exceeded the district court’s jurisdiction. The agency contended that the August decision improperly modified the basis of the initial preliminary injunction in March, an order currently being appealed.

Just ahead of the collective bargaining agreement’s expiration on Aug. 8, U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose in Rhode Island ordered VA to reinstate the agreement with AFGE. The judge found that AFGE had satisfied requirements to trigger a contract provision that automatically extends the current agreement while negotiations for a new one continue. The Aug. 7 ruling came after DuBose in March initially issued a preliminary injunction, ordering VA to keep AFGE’s contract intact while litigation continued.

VA appealed the August decision and requested a stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction. The question of whether the agreement should be automatically extended is an issue “distinct from” the question of whether its overall termination was unlawful, the agency argued.

The August order raised new “substantive” issues involving the interpretation of AFGE’s collective bargaining agreement, rather than focusing only on compliance with the initial injunction from March, the judges said Friday.

“The defendants contend that the second enforcement order ‘reaches well beyond the original injunction’s scope,’” they wrote. “We agree.”

“We recognize that there remains an unresolved dispute between the parties as to whether their communications satisfied the CBA’s automatic extension provision,” the Oct. 2 decision continued. “But that is a function of the fact that the preliminary injunction’s directive to ‘reinstate’ the CBA leaves open potential questions of interpretation of and compliance with the CBA.”

While the March injunction remains in effect, the Oct. 2 stay decision means the August order is no longer requiring VA to recognize its agreement with AFGE, following its expiration on Aug. 8. VA did not respond to Federal News Network’s request for comment on its next steps after Friday’s decision.

The contract dispute between AFGE and VA stems from President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order that sought to eliminate collective bargaining across a large swath of agencies on “national security” grounds. VA announced in August 2025 that it was terminating most of its contracts with federal employee unions, a move quickly challenged in court by AFGE.

The ongoing lawsuit over VA’s union contract cancellation is one of several challenges against the Trump administration’s push to end collective bargaining across many agencies. AFGE has an overarching lawsuit against Trump’s orders, but individual legal challenges have also emerged based on how agencies are carrying out the president’s directive.

A federal judge in September ordered the Bureau of Prisons to restore its contract with AFGE’s Council of Prison Locals 33. The union’s argument in the BOP case contends that the agency canceled the contract as a form of retaliation, rather than in response to Trump’s executive order.

The Environmental Protection Agency is also facing a new lawsuit over the termination of its contract with AFGE Council 238.

If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email drew.friedman@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11

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