The case of whether three executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in May 2018 overstep presidential authority is going to the D.C. Circuit Court, as Department of Justice officials filed Sept. 25 to appeal a prior ruling overturning much of the orders’ substance.

The executive orders cut back on the amount of time federal employees could use for union duties, while calling for the renegotiation of agency contracts with unions and making it easier for those agencies to fire poor performing employees.

Some federal agencies soon began evicting unions from their office spaces, as the orders also instructed federal officials that unions could no longer use government property for free.

A fed’s protest leads to discipline rule violations

U.S. Code limits the time an agency employee can be placed on administrative leave, but the Social Security Administration has exceeded it for an employee following a nondestructive act protesting union crackdowns.

Jessie Bur

July 22, 2018

Union officials said at the time that the orders prevented union representatives from fulfilling their legally mandated responsibilities to represent and advise their peers.

A group of federal employee unions quickly sued the administration for overreach through the executive orders.

A district court judge ruled Aug. 25 that significant provisions in the executive orders “cannot be sustained” as they directly run around of Congressional intent in the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute.

Four days later, the Office of Personnel Management officially rescinded guidance on the enforcement of the orders, but stated that the agency “will work with the U.S. Department of Justice to evaluate next steps in this litigation.”

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