Attorneys for Federal Employees — Nationwide

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Today at a Glance

• OPM Workforce Cuts: The agency that runs federal HR, insurance, and retirement has cut its own staff by about 35% since late 2024, and a new GAO report warns the loss of experienced employees is slowing its work — even as OPM offers another round of deferred resignations before Open Season.

• IRS Telework: An arbitrator ordered the IRS to restore telework and remote work for bargaining-unit employees, ruling the agency broke its union contract in 2025 — the latest in a run of similar wins against return-to-office mandates.

• Social Security and FERS: A new bipartisan Senate bill would push Congress to vote on a Social Security solvency plan — a direct concern for FERS employees whose retirement rests on Social Security as one of three pillars.

Top Stories:

1. OPM Has Shed a Third of Its Own Workforce — and Is Asking More Employees to Leave Before Open Season

Source: Government Executive, July 20, 2026

TL;DR: The Office of Personnel Management — the agency that runs federal HR, health insurance, and retirement — cut its own headcount by about 35% between December 2024 and March 2026, according to a July 2026 Government Accountability Office report (GAO-26-108916). More than half of the employees who left had 11 or more years of service; roughly 60% left through the deferred resignation program (DRP) and about 10% through reductions in force. OPM is now offering another DRP round to its healthcare and insurance division, with a July 13 opt-in deadline for most employees but an extended deadline of August 27 for employees age 40 and older. GAO warned the cuts have "reduced institutional knowledge and operational capacity," including a 16% staffing drop in OPM's retirement services office and a more than 40% cut to the Merit System Accountability and Compliance division — the same division OPM has proposed using to take over some employee appeals from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Some employees who accepted last year's DRP say they are still waiting on their retirement checks nearly a year later. OPM says it is confident in its staffing for the November–December Open Season.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are weighing the DRP and you are 40 or older, your longer deadline (August 27) exists for a legal reason: federal law gives older workers more time to consider a waiver of age-discrimination claims — and a short window to revoke it after signing.

• Retirement and insurance processing may run slower than usual; if you are retiring or planning Open Season changes, build in extra time and keep dated copies of everything you submit.

• If OPM moves appeal adjudication away from the MSPB while cutting the staff who would handle it, employees with pending or future appeals should watch for delays and confirm exactly where and how to file.

Legal Insight:

A DRP agreement typically asks the employee to waive legal claims, including age-discrimination claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requires that any such waiver offered to a group of employees as part of an exit-incentive program give workers at least 45 days to consider it and 7 days to revoke it after signing (29 U.S.C. § 626(f)(1)(F)(ii), (G)) — which is why employees 40 and older have until August 27. Early-out offers separately rest on the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (5 U.S.C. §§ 8336(d)(2), 8414(b)(1)), and MSPB appeal rights remain governed by 5 U.S.C. § 7701. Before signing any separation agreement or waiver, a federal employee should consider consulting a federal employment attorney — once the revocation window closes, a waiver is very hard to undo.

2. An Arbitrator Ordered the IRS to Restore Telework — Even After the Agency Withdrew From the Case

Source: Government Executive, July 20, 2026

TL;DR: Arbitrator Christopher Shulman ruled last week that the IRS violated its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and committed unfair labor practices when it cancelled telework and remote work for most employees in 2025. The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) filed the grievance in March 2025 after the IRS ended the arrangements en masse, despite contract language requiring case-by-case review. In late March 2026 the IRS told the arbitrator he was "no longer authorized" to hear NTEU grievances and withdrew from the proceedings; the arbitrator held the hearing anyway, in the agency's absence, as the CBA allowed. Shulman found that because the IRS cancelled telework before both the anti-union executive order and the later contract termination, the duty to arbitrate survived — "expiration of a collective bargaining agreement does not terminate rights and obligations arising under the contract during its term." He also rejected OPM's position that telework is purely a "management right," explaining that telework governs where employees work, not what work they do or how. The IRS was ordered to restore telework and remote work agreements and to rescind any adverse actions tied to the cancellation; it has 30 days to appeal to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). This is the latest in a run of similar arbitration wins, following HHS, HUD, the Social Security Administration, and the Forest Service.

For federal employees, this means:

• A signed union contract can still protect telework even after an agency declares the contract terminated, if the dispute arose while the contract was in force.

• If you lost telework or were disciplined (including an AWOL charge) after a return-to-office order, an arbitration win like this can support restoring your arrangement and reversing related actions — but relief on a contract grievance generally runs through your union, not an individual court filing.

• Watch the 30-day clock: the agency can file exceptions with the FLRA, so a win at arbitration may not be final right away.

Legal Insight:

Under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (5 U.S.C. Chapter 71), an agency commits an unfair labor practice when it repudiates a collective bargaining agreement or refuses to bargain in good faith (5 U.S.C. § 7116(a)(1), (5)), and disputes over contract terms run through negotiated grievance and arbitration procedures (5 U.S.C. § 7121). A party unhappy with an arbitrator's award generally has 30 days to file exceptions with the FLRA (5 U.S.C. § 7122). Employees who believe telework was stripped in violation of their contract — or the Telework Enhancement Act (5 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506) — should raise it promptly through their union representative, and where an adverse action is involved, consider consulting a federal employment attorney about preserving their rights.

3. Why Social Security's Finances Are a FERS Problem — and the New Bipartisan Bill Meant to Force Action

Source: Government Executive, July 16, 2026

TL;DR: A bipartisan group of senators — Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Angus King (I-Maine) — introduced the PROMISE Act (Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone), which would create a structured process for Congress to develop and vote on a long-term Social Security solvency plan. The bill itself does not raise payroll taxes, cut benefits, change the retirement age, or alter eligibility; it is built to force a vote rather than dictate the result. The push follows the Social Security 2026 Trustees Report, which projected that within about six years — if Congress does nothing — the program could pay only about 78% of scheduled retirement benefits. That matters more for employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) than many realize, because FERS was designed around three coordinated pillars: the FERS basic annuity, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). For FERS employees, Social Security is not a side benefit — it is one of three legs the whole plan stands on. The FERS annuity supplement, which bridges income for some who retire before 62, stops at the end of the month before the retiree turns 62, even if that person does not claim Social Security then.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are under FERS, treat Social Security as a core part of your retirement math, not an afterthought — changes to benefit levels or claiming rules would directly affect your income plan.

• If you are eyeing an early retirement, learn how the FERS annuity supplement works and exactly when it ends, so a gap at age 62 does not catch you off guard.

• Keep your own records — your Social Security earnings statement, TSP balances, and a current annuity estimate — so you can adjust your retirement date and TSP contributions if the rules change.

Legal Insight:

FERS is a three-part system created under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 84, combining the FERS basic annuity, Social Security (funded through the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, 42 U.S.C. § 401), and the Thrift Savings Plan (5 U.S.C. §§ 8431–8440). The FERS annuity supplement approximates the Social Security portion for certain employees who retire before age 62 and ends when Social Security eligibility begins (5 U.S.C. § 8421). Because two of the three FERS pillars depend directly on Social Security's finances, any solvency fix — or failure to enact one — flows straight into federal retirement planning.

Mindful Moment of the Day

The End-of-Day Closeout 

At the end of the day, it can be tempting to keep checking Outlook, Teams, dashboards, or case updates because everything still feels unfinished. Your body may not know how to stop when the work is still there. Try a simple closeout ritual. Write down three things: what was completed, what needs attention next, and what can wait until tomorrow. Then close the laptop, log off, or place your badge somewhere out of sight. This gives your mind a clear stopping point. The work may continue tomorrow, but you are allowed to end today. 

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