Attorneys for Federal Employees — Nationwide

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Today at a Glance

• EEO Complaint Overhaul Advances: The EEOC voted 2-1 on Wednesday to move forward with a proposed rewrite of the federal-sector discrimination complaint rules that would end EEO counseling, the automatic right to a hearing before an EEOC Administrative Judge, and class complaints. The current rules remain in force, and a public comment period is coming.

• Paid to Resign, Then Replaced: A Partnership for Public Service analysis found agencies hired roughly 20,600 people into the same components and job series that deferred resignation participants left — often at lower grades. OPM disputes the methodology.

• September Decision Points: The 2027 pay plan letter is due before September 1 — this Monday — the House still must act on the Senate’s stopgap funding bill before September 30, and OPM’s plan to collect FEHB claims data is drawing formal objections.

Top Stories:

1. EEOC Votes 2-1 to Advance a Rewrite of the Federal EEO Complaint Process — Counseling, Automatic Hearings, and Class Complaints Would End

Source: Bloomberg Law, August 26, 2026

TL;DR: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted 2-1 along party lines Wednesday to approve a draft proposed rule that would rewrite the regulations governing federal employees’ discrimination complaints. The proposal would eliminate the informal EEO counseling stage, end the automatic right to a hearing before an EEOC Administrative Judge, and eliminate class complaints; every investigation would end in a final agency decision. In its place, a “hearing referral model” would let the EEOC decide whether referring a dispute for a hearing is necessary or efficient, and the EEOC could narrow the scope of any hearing it grants. Chair Andrea Lucas said the current process has become “susceptible to abuse” and pointed to the agency’s capacity — roughly 70 to 130 administrative judges responsible for a workforce of about two million. Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal, the Commission’s only Democrat, voted no, saying the plan would deny employees impartial hearings and discovery and would let agencies dismiss complaints under a standard reserved for federal court. Her motions to postpone the vote and to extend the public comment period from 30 to 60 days both failed. The proposal now heads to the Federal Register for public comment; the current rules remain in force.

For federal employees, this means:

• Nothing changes today. The existing complaint process — counselor contact, investigation, and the right to elect a hearing before an EEOC Administrative Judge — still applies, and the 45-day deadline to contact an EEO counselor after a discriminatory act still controls.
• A 30-day public comment window is expected once the proposed rule publishes in the Federal Register. Employees, unions, and stakeholder groups can submit comments — and the short window means preparing early matters.
• If the rule is finalized as drafted, the biggest practical losses would be discovery and an independent decision-maker: cases would end in final agency decisions issued by the same agency accused of discrimination, subject to appeal.

Legal Insight

The stages the proposal would eliminate are creatures of regulation, not statute: EEO counseling is required by 29 C.F.R. § 1614.105, the hearing right by 29 C.F.R. §§ 1614.108(f) and 1614.109, and class complaints by 29 C.F.R. § 1614.204. Because they sit in regulation, the Commission can propose to remove them — but only through notice-and-comment rulemaking under 5 U.S.C. § 553, and a final rule can be challenged in court. If you have a pending complaint or are weighing one, the current deadlines still apply; a federal employment attorney can help you protect your place in the existing process while the rulemaking plays out.

2. Agencies Rehired Into Roughly 20,600 Jobs Vacated by Deferred Resignations — Often at Lower Grades

Source: Government Executive, August 25, 2026

TL;DR: The Partnership for Public Service reported in an August 20 analysis that, by June 2026, nearly 20,600 people had been hired into the same agency subcomponents and occupational series that employees left under the deferred resignation program (DRP). About 41% of the more than 300,000 separations from the civil service last year came through the DRP, which generally kept participants on paid leave through September 2025. The Partnership found new hires came in an average of about 1.4 General Schedule grades below the people they replaced; in the FBI’s criminal investigation series, the gap averaged 3.1 grades. OPM Director Scott Kupor disputed the methodology, arguing the job classifications used are too broad to prove backfilling, and countered that the same data shows about 85% of DRP separations were not replaced. Watchdogs have separately criticized FEMA, the IRS, and GSA for cutting staff without analyzing the impact on services.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you resigned under the DRP, you gave up RIF-based reemployment priority — but former career employees generally retain reinstatement eligibility under 5 C.F.R. § 315.401, which lets you apply for postings open to status candidates. Career-tenure employees face no time limit; career-conditional eligibility generally lasts three years.
• If you were separated by RIF — not resignation — you may have priority claims to reposted jobs through your former agency’s Reemployment Priority List and ICTAP under 5 C.F.R. part 330. Those rights are time-limited, so check your eligibility window now.
• If you are weighing any future incentive to resign, this data is the caution: resignation is voluntary, it usually waives the appeal and priority rights that come with an involuntary separation, and the position you leave may be refilled.

Legal Insight

The distinction that matters here is voluntary versus involuntary separation. A RIF separation carries procedural rights — including Reemployment Priority List registration and ICTAP selection priority under 5 C.F.R. part 330 — and can be appealed to the MSPB for RIF-rule violations under 5 C.F.R. § 351.901. A resignation, including one under the DRP, is presumed voluntary and generally carries none of those rights unless the employee can show it was coerced or induced by agency misinformation. If an agency refilled your old position after telling you it was being eliminated, that fact pattern is worth a conversation with a federal employment attorney — it can matter to an involuntariness claim and to what you negotiate in any future separation.

3. September Will Answer Three Questions Feds Have Asked All Year: Pay, a Shutdown, and Health Claims Data

Source: Federal News Network, August 26, 2026

TL;DR: In a Federal Drive interview, NARFE staff vice president John Hatton walked through the decision points hitting federal employees over the next five weeks. On pay: the President’s alternative pay plan letter for 2027 is due before September 1 — this Monday — and because the administration’s budget proposed a civilian pay freeze, NARFE expects the letter to announce no raise, even as the House-passed NDAA carries a 5% to 7% military raise. Congress could still fund a civilian raise through appropriations. On funding: the Senate has passed a broadly bipartisan continuing resolution extending current funding to December 11, but the House has not acted, and the fiscal year ends September 30. Hatton said he would “bet on it happening versus not happening” while calling the congressional environment chaotic. Bipartisan bills in both chambers — the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act — would make continuing resolutions automatic at the end of a fiscal year and require Congress to stay in session working on appropriations, with limits on congressional travel. On health data: NARFE filed formal comments objecting to parts of OPM’s plan to collect FEHB and PSHB claims data, citing re-identification risk and the principle that employers should not hold their employees’ medical claims data.

For federal employees, this means:

• Watch Monday, August 31. If no alternative pay plan letter is transmitted before September 1, FEPCA’s default formula takes effect — an outcome Government Executive notes no administration has allowed to stand since the law passed.
• A December 11 funding patch is the likely outcome, but it is not law until the House acts. Build a September 30 shutdown contingency into your household planning now, not in the last week of September.
• If you have views on OPM holding FEHB claims data, the comment record shows the concerns regulators are weighing: pseudonymization, limits on re-identification, and who can access the data.

Legal Insight

Under 5 U.S.C. § 5303(b), the President must transmit an alternative pay plan to Congress before September 1, or the default adjustment under § 5303(a) applies; Congress can override either outcome through appropriations. If a lapse in appropriations does occur, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341(c), guarantees retroactive pay for both furloughed and excepted employees once funding resumes — a protection made permanent law during the 2018-2019 shutdown.

Mindful Moment of the Day

The Commute Decompression 

After a difficult in-office day, the commute home can become a replay booth for everything that went wrong. Your mind may return to the meeting, the email, the backlog, or the look on someone’s face. Before starting the car, boarding transit, or walking away from the building, take one minute to mark the transition. Feel your keys, badge, bag, or phone in your hand. Breathe out and say, “Work is real, and I am leaving it for now.” This does not erase the day. It gives your body permission to stop carrying the office at full volume into the rest of your life. 

In Case You Missed It

A few quick hits from our recent posts:

EEOC Votes August 26 on a Plan That Could End Your Right to an Independent Judge

Four Unions Sue OPM Over the Rule That Reroutes Removals — and Their Appeals — to OPM

The Man Who Ran the IRS Says the Bill for DOGE's Cuts Hasn't Come Due Yet

Worried About Retaliation or Being Targeted for Speaking Up?

If you’ve reported misconduct, safety concerns, discrimination, or waste/fraud/abuse—and now you’re seeing sudden schedule changes, bad performance reviews, or threats of discipline—you may be in whistleblower or retaliation territory.