Federal Court Order Restores VA Union Contract for 320,000 Employees
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to reinstate the collective bargaining agreement for its largest employee union.
On March 13, 2026, Judge Melissa DuBose of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island issued a preliminary injunction restoring the contract for some 320,000 workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council.
The ruling blocks a previous decision by VA Secretary Doug Collins to terminate the agreement in August 2025, one in a series of failed VA initiatives since Collins took over the Department of Veterans Affairs. The injunction remains in effect for the remainder of the three-year contract term while a lawsuit proceeds through the court system.
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Executive Order vs. VA Employees
The legal battle over these contracts began following an Executive Order issued in March 2025, which claimed presidential authority to exclude certain agencies from labor management programs to ensure a responsive civil service for national security.
The VA implemented this by repudiating contracts with five unions that covered about four-fifths of its 480,000 employees.
VA Secretary Doug Collins argued at the time that unions often reward poor performers and oppose the best interests of veterans. The union countered by filing a lawsuit in November 2025, alleging that the move was an attempt to silence workers and deprive them of constitutional rights.
Court Finds VA Retaliated Against Unions
The court found that the union is likely to succeed on its claim that the termination was unlawful retaliation. Judge DuBose stated that the decision to end the contract seemed motivated by the union’s history of vocally opposing changes to labor policies. The ruling indicates that the VA likely violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.
While the department argued that national security grounds justified the agency’s exclusion from labor relations programs, the judge noted that the VA presented no evidence that national security was the motivation for the union contract termination. Instead, the department cited costs and an inability to terminate employees for performance issues as the primary reasons for its actions.
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Next Steps
The reinstatement of the contract restores workplace protections and benefits suspended in 2025.
- Employees will again have access to negotiated grievance procedures to address workplace disputes.
- The order also restores previous leave benefits, including a parental leave policy that had been reduced from 16 weeks to 12 weeks during the termination period.
- The department must resume the withholding of union dues from employee paychecks, which ended in April 2025. Union leaders believe these protections are essential for supporting the workforce that provides care to veterans.
The judge in this case notes that the VA appeared to favor certain unions over others. The department did not terminate all collective bargaining agreements, and there is a perception that the VA specifically targeted those belonging to organizations that had publicly criticized administration policies.
For example, unions representing roughly 4,000 police officers, firefighters, and security guards were allowed to keep their contracts. The judge remarked that the executive order used to justify the termination allowed for decisions on an agency basis but not a union-by-union basis.
Selective enforcement, or the impression of it, appears to have been viewed by the court as evidence of a retaliatory motive rather than a broad policy shift driven by national security needs.
Current administration officials have not yet confirmed if they will appeal this injunction. In previous similar cases, the Department of Justice has successfully appealed to higher courts. Members of Congress have urged the VA to abandon any further appeals and recognize the rights of the workforce. Ranking Member Mark Takano stated that the ruling is a step toward protecting the fundamental right to collectively bargain.
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About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
