Attorneys for Federal Employees — Nationwide

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Today at a Glance

• HHS RIF and Schedule Policy/Career: The Department of Health and Human Services is sending a second wave of reduction-in-force notices to 78 employees missed in the April 2025 layoffs, and is moving "hundreds" of GS-15 positions into Schedule Policy/Career, OPM's rebranded Schedule F.

• EEOC Religious-Accommodation Decision: EEOC ordered the Interior Department to reverse 2021 denials of three Bureau of Indian Education employees' religious exemptions to the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate, pay compensation, and retrain the officials involved.

• VA Union Contract Litigation: The First Circuit denied the VA's emergency stay of the AFGE National VA Council contract covering roughly 300,000 employees, but partially paused the district court's order requiring grievance and arbitration processing during appeal.

Top Stories:

1. HHS Sends a Second Wave of RIF Notices and Moves Hundreds of GS-15 Positions Into Schedule Policy/Career

Source: Federal News Network, May 18, 2026

TL;DR: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing reduction-in-force (RIF) notices to 78 employees who were missed in the April 2025 layoffs that eliminated entire offices and programs across the department. In an internal email obtained by Federal News Network, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation Paige Decker told staff the new notices correct positions "improperly coded" and competitive areas overlooked in the first round. The National Institutes of Health is taking the largest share at 43, followed by the Office of the Secretary (14), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (6), the Health Resources and Services Administration (5), the Food and Drug Administration (4), the Administration for Children and Families (3), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1). In parallel, HHS Chief Capital Officer Thomas J. Nagy, Jr. told employees in a separate memo that "hundreds" of GS-15 positions will be reclassified into Schedule Policy/Career in the first tranche, with additional tranches to follow. Reuters first reported the Nagy memo on May 15, 2026. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told the House Appropriations subcommittee on April 16, 2026, that the department now stands at 72,000 employees after last year's 10,000 layoffs and 10,000 deferred-resignation or early-retirement departures, and plans to hire 12,000 more.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you receive a RIF notice, the standard procedural protections under 5 U.S.C. § 3502 and 5 C.F.R. Part 351 still apply — including correct service-computation dates, retention-register placement, and notice timing. Compare every data point on your notice against your eOPF and flag any error in writing inside the appeal window.

• Schedule Policy/Career reclassification is a position-based action, not a performance action, but once your position is reclassified you lose Chapter 75 adverse-action appeal rights tied to the definition of "employee" in 5 U.S.C. § 7511. Verify whether your position appears on your component's list, and document the duties you actually perform.

• Procedural windows are short. RIF appeals to MSPB run 30 days from the effective date under 5 C.F.R. § 351.901; EEO claims tied to a RIF (disparate impact, reasonable accommodation, retaliation) require contact with an EEO counselor within 45 days under 29 C.F.R. § 1614.105(a)(1).

Legal Insight:
RIF actions are governed by 5 U.S.C. § 3502 and 5 C.F.R. Part 351, which set the order of retention by tenure group, veterans' preference, performance, and service-computation date. Errors in any of those four factors are the most common — and most winnable — grounds for an MSPB appeal. Schedule Policy/Career, by contrast, is implemented through OPM's February 2026 final rule and strips the procedural protections in 5 U.S.C. §§ 7511–7513 and the MSPB appeal rights in 5 U.S.C. § 7701 for affected positions, leaving employees with limited or no avenue to contest a removal. A federal employee who receives either notice — RIF or reclassification — should consult a federal employment attorney before any deadline runs.

2. EEOC Orders Reversal, Compensation, and a New Investigation in Religious-Accommodation Case at Interior

Source: Federal News Network, May 18, 2026

TL;DR: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued an appellate decision on Friday, May 15, 2026, finding that the Department of the Interior violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it denied religious-exemption requests from three Bureau of Indian Education employees in 2021 under the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The three employees had asked to substitute masking at work and regular testing for the vaccine, citing their religious objection to substances developed using fetal-cell lines. Interior denied the requests, citing undue hardship and projected testing-and-masking costs of as much as $10,000 per employee per year. EEOC found those denials unlawful, ordered Interior to reverse them, conduct a new investigation, calculate and pay compensation to the three employees, and require the officials involved to complete four hours of civil rights training with an emphasis on religious accommodation. EEOC instructed Interior to complete the new review and determine damages within four months and pay them within the two months after that. EEOC Chairwoman Andrea Lucas called the decision "a step toward justice for federal employees who suffered under the pandemic-era policies of the Biden Administration." The decision relied on Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023), and Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, 601 U.S. 346 (2024).

For federal employees, this means:

•  If an agency denied a religious accommodation between 2021 and the present, the legal standard has shifted. After Groff v. DeJoy, an agency must show that a requested accommodation would impose "substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business" — a meaningfully higher bar than the prior "de minimis" test.

• The federal-sector EEO clock starts at the agency, not in court. Under 29 C.F.R. § 1614.105(a)(1), you must initiate contact with an EEO counselor within 45 days of the discriminatory act, or — in a continuing-violation matter — within 45 days of the most recent discriminatory act.

• Even when no discipline followed the denial, you may still have a claim. EEOC found "redressable injuries" stemming from the agency's "unduly adversarial" accommodation process itself, including the panel hearings into the employees' religious beliefs.

Legal Insight:
Title VII's religious-accommodation rule, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j), requires the federal government — as an employer under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16 — to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship under the Groff standard. The federal-sector enforcement process runs through 29 C.F.R. Part 1614, and compensatory damages are governed by 42 U.S.C. § 1981a. Employees who believe a prior accommodation request was wrongly denied should preserve every request, denial letter, panel-interview record, and timeline note before the matter ages further.

3. First Circuit Keeps VA-AFGE Contract in Force but Pauses Grievance-Enforcement Order Pending Appeal

Source: Federal News Network, May 18, 2026

TL;DR: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied the Department of Veterans Affairs' emergency motion to stay a district-court order keeping the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National VA Council collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in force, while partially staying the lower court's enforcement order as it applies to currently pending grievances and arbitrations. The ruling preserves the master CBA — which covers roughly 300,000 VA employees — during the appeal, but pauses the district court's directive that VA process pending grievances and arbitrations under the contract while the case is on review. The case arises from Executive Order 14251 (March 27, 2025), "Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs," which removed the VA and roughly 40 other agencies and subdivisions from coverage under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute on national-security grounds. U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose (D.R.I.) entered a preliminary injunction earlier this year reinstating the AFGE contract; her March 27, 2026, enforcement order found VA's continued refusal to honor the CBA showed "blatant disrespect for not just this court's order, but for the rule of law." AFGE National VA Council President MJ Burke said the recent rulings make clear that "the courts will hold the VA accountable."

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are a bargaining-unit employee at VA, the master CBA remains in force during the First Circuit's review. Contract protections — official time, telework, performance-management procedures, hours of duty, and discipline standards — continue to apply.

• Grievances and arbitrations that were "currently pending" under the CBA may be held in abeyance under the partial stay. Document any agency action that would otherwise trigger a grievance, note the date precisely, and confirm timing with your union steward to preserve filing windows once enforcement resumes.

• The contract litigation does not change individual statutory rights. Chapter 75 adverse-action procedures under 5 U.S.C. §§ 7511–7513, USERRA, FMLA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Title VII remain available regardless of how the appeal comes out.

Legal Insight:
The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, 5 U.S.C. §§ 7101–7135, sets out collective-bargaining rights for most federal employees, but § 7103(b) permits the President to exclude an agency whose primary function is intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national-security work. The unions challenging EO 14251 argue VA's primary function is veterans' health care, not national-security work, and the district court agreed at the preliminary-injunction stage. The First Circuit's partial stay narrows enforcement during appeal but leaves the contract in place. A VA employee who would otherwise file a grievance during the stay should preserve every document, note dates precisely, and consult a federal employment attorney about parallel paths — MSPB, EEOC, or federal court — before any deadline runs.

Mindful Moment of the Day

The Security Line Softening 

Standing in a long security line while thinking about an SES briefing, a difficult supervisor, or a full inbox can make the workday feel heavy before it begins. Your body may brace as if you are already late, already behind, already in trouble. Try softening one place in your body while you wait. Unclench your hands, relax your tongue from the roof of your mouth, or lower your shoulders. Let the line move at the pace it moves. This small act reminds your nervous system that not every delay is a danger and not every morning has to begin in a state of alarm. 

In Case You Missed It

A few quick hits from our recent videos and posts:

HHS Schedule Policy/Career Reclassification

Russell Vought and Federal Employee Rights

FEMA Readiness and Whistleblower Rights