Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LABOR NEWS—Agencies instructed to implement EOs terminating federal employees’ collective bargaining rights, (Feb 13, 2026)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

Federal courts had issued temporary relief from the EOs’ implementation.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memorandum instructing federal departments and agencies to take immediate steps to implement Executive Orders (EOs) 14251 and 14343, both signed by President Trump last year. The orders designate certain agencies and agency subdivisions as having primary intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security functions, and direct that the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS) cannot be applied to them.

Executive orders.EO 14251 (90 Fed. Reg. 14553, March 27, 2025) terminated the collective bargaining rights of employees in ten Cabinet-level departments and seven independent agencies whose “primary function” is ostensibly national security, the complaint states, “allegedly because the [Statute] ‘cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.’” The March EO included, among others, the Department of State, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

On August 28, 2025, President Trump issued another EO regarding exclusions from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program. The new order, titled “Further Exclusions from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program,” added to the list of exclusions NASA; the U.S. Agency for Global Media; the National Weather Service; National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; the International Trade Administration; the Office of the Commissioner for Patents and subordinate units, Patent and Trademark Office; and “Units in the Bureau of Reclamation with primary responsibility for operating, managing, or maintaining hydropower facilities.”

Litigation. Several lawsuits have been filed in response to the orders and litigation remains ongoing in some, although in August a Ninth Circuit panel granted a stay of an injunction that had barred implementation of EO 14251. Federal courts in California, the District of Columbia, and elsewhere granted temporary relief from the implementation of the EOs in 2025.

Agencies told to proceed with termination, modification of CBAs. Indeed, as noted in the memorandum, implementation of the EOs was delayed for various reasons, including litigation. However, OPM is now advising all covered agencies and subdivisions to proceed with the termination or modification of affected Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs). Agencies must notify labor unions and bargaining unit employees impacted by the EOs that any applicable CBAs are being terminated. A template termination notice is attached to the memo for agency use.

The memorandum states that agencies must continue to adhere to CBAs involving employees and unions not excluded under Section 2 of EO 14251. Employees excluded by EOs 14251 and 14343 will remain represented by their unions and continue under existing CBA terms. Covered agencies and subdivisions are required to report the status of all CBAs for every bargaining unit to OPM using an attached spreadsheet. Reports are due on the first of each month—beginning March 1—until all termination notices have been executed and reported. Each agency’s headquarters must submit one consolidated report covering all subordinate components and bargaining units.

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