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Today at a Glance

• Union Representation: NTEU has set a September 5 deadline for members whose payroll dues deduction stopped to re-enroll in direct payment. Members who miss it lose access to union benefits — including eligibility for NTEU representation — until they resume paying.

• Statistical Agencies: The ranking Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee is asking for a September hearing on staffing losses at federal statistical agencies, as the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service prepares to relocate employees to Kansas City this fall.

• Firefighter Pay: OPM has finalized a 25 percent pay differential for federal wildland firefighters working the fireline on prescribed burns, effective 30 days after the August 14 publication date and applying from the first pay period beginning on or after that date.

Top Stories:

1. NTEU Sets a September 5 Deadline to Restart Dues — and Ties Representation Eligibility to It

Source: Government Executive, August 12, 2026

TL;DR: Government Executive reports, based on three union officials, that National Treasury Employees Union members who do not sign up for dues payments by September 5 will lose access to the union’s benefits until they resume paying. Per those officials, what is suspended includes eligibility for NTEU representation — individually or as part of a group — the opportunity to receive remedies or settlements won through NTEU litigation, and member-only information and updates. The deadline follows more than a year in which the union imposed no dues requirement on affected members. In a pair of executive orders signed last year, the President invoked a provision of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to bar unions at nearly 40 agencies on national security grounds; many agencies then stopped automatic dues deductions from paychecks. NTEU says those orders stripped collective bargaining rights from roughly two-thirds of its members, and its challenge to them remains pending. The union began a phased rollout of its own online payment system, Dues Direct, in February 2026. About half of NTEU’s members work at the IRS, which terminated its collective bargaining agreement with the union in February; Customs and Border Protection, about a quarter of the membership, still permits payroll deduction. NTEU did not immediately respond to Government Executive’s request for comment.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are an NTEU member and dues stopped coming out of your paycheck, confirm your Dues Direct enrollment before September 5. On the reporting, missing that date suspends member benefits — including representation eligibility — until payments resume.
• Membership and statutory rights are two different things. Where a union still holds exclusive recognition, it owes representation to everyone in the bargaining unit, member or not. Where the agency has been excluded from labor-relations coverage, there is no exclusive representative performing that duty and no negotiated grievance procedure standing behind it.
• Union membership has never been a prerequisite to filing an EEO complaint, an MSPB appeal, or an OSC complaint. If your contract is gone, those forums are where your remaining procedural rights live — and each has its own filing clock.

Legal Insight. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7102, federal employees have the right to form, join, or assist a labor organization — or to refrain — freely and without fear of penalty or reprisal. Where a union holds exclusive recognition, 5 U.S.C. § 7114(a)(1) requires it to represent the interests of all employees in the unit “without discrimination and without regard to labor organization membership,” and 5 U.S.C. § 7115(a) obligates the agency to honor a written dues allotment. The reported September 5 deadline reaches the member-only side of that relationship — the benefits a union chooses to provide its dues-paying members — not the statutory duty, which does not operate at all at an agency excluded under 5 U.S.C. § 7103(b)(1). If your bargaining relationship has ended and you are taking stock of what protection remains, the controlling deadlines are statutory: 45 days to contact an EEO counselor under 29 C.F.R. § 1614.105(a)(1), and 30 days to file an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board under 5 C.F.R. § 1201.22(b). Consider consulting a federal employment attorney before those clocks run.

2. A Hearing Request on Statistical Agencies — and a Kansas City Relocation for ERS Employees This Fall

Source: Government Executive, August 13, 2026

TL;DR: Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, has asked Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) to schedule a September hearing on the state of federal statistical agencies. Scott’s request cites a midyear report from the American Statistical Association, released last month, finding that staffing cuts and persistent leadership vacancies put the agencies in a “weakened and vulnerable position” to meet rigorous production schedules. Government Executive reports that all 13 principal federal statistical agencies have seen staffing cuts since the start of the current administration, that six have shed at least a third of their headcount, and that two have lost more than two-thirds. The hearing Scott requested would cover the three agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction: the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics. NCES fell from roughly 100 employees to four last year and now has about a dozen full-time staff. BLS cut staffing 20 percent between fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2026, and the Senate confirmed Brett Matsumoto as its permanent director last week. ERS cut a third of its workforce over the same period and plans to relocate employees to Kansas City this fall; federal employee unions and nonprofit groups have sued to block USDA’s relocation plans, arguing they are an attempt to shrink the workforce. An Education Department spokesperson said NCES and the Institute of Education Sciences “were in need of reform.”

For federal employees, this means:

• A directed relocation is a personnel action with consequences worth mapping before you answer. If you decline a directed reassignment outside your commuting area and the agency removes you for it, that removal is an adverse action carrying advance notice, reply, and appeal rights.
• If a reorganization moves your work to a different location or agency, transfer-of-function rules decide who moves with the function and who is left to be reached by a reduction in force. The two paths carry very different rights, and the paperwork tells you which one you are on.
• Get it in writing. Ask for the written reassignment notice, the effective date, the position description at the new location, and whether relocation expenses are authorized. Verbal instructions are difficult to challenge later.

Legal Insight. When an agency moves a function to a new location, 5 C.F.R. §§ 351.301–.303 govern which employees transfer with it; employees not transferred whose positions are abolished are reached by the reduction-in-force rules elsewhere in 5 C.F.R. Part 351. If an employee declines a directed reassignment and the agency responds by removing them, that removal is an adverse action under 5 U.S.C. § 7512(1), and 5 U.S.C. § 7513(b) entitles the employee to at least 30 days’ advance written notice, a reasonable time to answer, representation by an attorney or other representative, and a written decision. One venue change is worth noting now: beginning September 2, 2026, appeals of actions taken during a reduction in force, probationary terminations, and suitability removals go to OPM rather than the Merit Systems Protection Board. If a relocation notice arrives this fall, a federal employment attorney can identify which track you are on before your answer date passes.

3. OPM Finalizes 25 Percent Hazard Pay for Prescribed Burns

Source: Government Executive, August 14, 2026

TL;DR: OPM published a final rule in the Federal Register on August 14, 2026, adding prescribed wildland fire duties to the activities that trigger hazardous duty pay for General Schedule employees and environmental differential pay for Federal Wage System employees. The differential is 25 percent — the same rate already paid for fireline work on unplanned wildfires, which prescribed burns did not previously qualify for. Coverage is limited to employees participating as a member of a firefighting crew engaged in activities on the fireline directly involving the implementation and control of a prescribed wildland fire; the rule does not extend to pre-ignition preparation. OPM adopted its April 14, 2026 proposal without change after receiving 92 comments. The regulation is effective 30 days after publication, and the differential applies beginning with the first pay period starting on or after that date. OPM estimated that roughly 10,000 GS employees and 2,500 FWS employees at the Agriculture and Interior Departments could be affected, at an estimated annual cost of about $20 million to USDA and about $12.5 million to Interior. The Forest Service and the Interior Department requested the change; the National Federation of Federal Employees, which first recommended it in 2022, called the outcome a victory.

For federal employees, this means:

• The differential attaches to fireline work during implementation and control — ignition, holding, patrol, mop-up, fireline construction, and snag felling. Moving personnel and equipment into place and waiting for the burn window before ignition is not a trigger for payment.
• Check the applicability date against your own pay period. The rule is effective 30 days after the August 14 publication date, and the differential applies from the first pay period beginning on or after that date, so your first covered hours may fall later than the effective date itself.
• Pay plan does not decide eligibility; duties do. OPM confirmed that wildland firefighters under the GW pay plan and in the 0456 occupational series qualify when they meet the same duty-based test that applies to other GS employees.

Legal Insight. Hazardous duty pay for General Schedule employees is authorized by 5 U.S.C. § 5545(d) and 5 C.F.R. Part 550, Subpart I; environmental differential pay for Federal Wage System employees is authorized by 5 U.S.C. § 5343(c)(4) and 5 C.F.R. § 532.511. The new prescribed-fire categories are added to the schedules at Appendix A to Subpart I of 5 C.F.R. Part 550 and Appendix A to Subpart E of 5 C.F.R. Part 532. The rule also adds 5 C.F.R. § 550.904(f), confirming that the usual bar on hazard pay where the hazard is already accounted for in the classification of the position does not apply to employees in occupational series whose primary duties involve the prevention, control, suppression, or management of wildland fire — the regulatory expression of the exception Congress wrote into 5 U.S.C. § 5545(d)(1)(A). Where an agency does not pay a differential an employee believes is owed, the ordinary routes are the agency itself, a negotiated grievance procedure where one still applies, or a compensation claim filed with OPM under 5 C.F.R. Part 178.

Legal Tip of the Day

When You Receive a Proposed Suspension or Removal

A proposed suspension or removal is serious, but it is not the final word. The response period is a critical opportunity to address the agency’s allegations, correct inaccuracies, and present context such as past strong performance, medical issues, inconsistent treatment, or missing evidence. Read the proposal the same day, mark the deadline on a personal calendar, gather supporting documents, and consider whether to respond in writing, orally, or both. Do not submit a rushed or angry response, and do not admit to facts you do not fully understand. 

In Case You Missed It

A few quick hits from our recent posts:

MSPB Cuts RIF, Probationary, and Suitability Appeals From Its Rules — Effective September 2

Reservist Differential Pay: Three Papers to Pull if You Were Activated Since 2009

GAO Spent 14 Months Asking DOGE to Show the Math. DOGE Never Answered.

Need Help with Discipline or Performance?

If you’ve just been put on a PIP, received a proposed suspension or removal, or are worried your “coaching” has turned into a paper trail, it’s time to get real advice—not just hallway rumors.

At Southworth PC, we represent federal employees nationwide in:

• Proposed discipline and removals

• Performance issues and PIPs

• EEO discrimination, harassment, and retaliation

• Whistleblower and civil rights matters

• MSPB, EEOC, and OSC cases

• OPM/FERS disability retirement applications (flat‑fee full‑service assistance)

In a free, confidential consultation, you speak directly with an attorney about your timeline, key documents, and options. Deadlines can be quick in the federal sector, so if you have a deadline, don’t wait.

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Disclaimer:

This briefing is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney‑client relationship. Federal employment law is fact‑specific and time‑sensitive; you should consult a qualified attorney about your own situation and deadlines. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

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