Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, SENATE NEWS—Kaine cites protection of federal workers’ jobs as reason for signing onto deal expected to reopen government, (Nov 10, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

“This legislation will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay,” the Senator stated.

On Sunday, the United States Senate, in a vote of 60 to 40, set the stage for the end of the federal government shutdown, after a handful of Democratic Senators crossed the aisle based on a promise by Republican leaders that a vote on an ACA bill will be allowed next month.

Protection for federal workers. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) provided one of the key votes in favor of the agreement. In a statement, he explained that not only did the Republicans promise a vote to extend the Affordable Care Act premium credits, but that they also made changes to protect the federal workforce, which he added was necessary to earn his vote.

“This legislation will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay, as required by a law I got passed in 2019,” he explained. “That’s a critical step that will help federal employees and all Americans who rely on government services.”

Only kicks the can down the road. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), however, maintained his vote against the measure. “I appreciate that this proposal includes important language preventing further mass layoffs of federal employees,” he stated. “That’s a critical step in protecting our public servants from this administration’s campaign of retribution, and something I’ve long pushed for.”

“But I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their health care or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” he explained. “We owe the American people more than a short-term fix that leaves working families staring down a health care crisis, and simply kicking the can down the road is not good enough.”

RIFs to be halted, walked back. According to various reports, not only would the package reverse RIFs against thousands of federal workers; it would ban further RIFS for a few months and ensure backpay for furloughed workers and retroactive pay for those employees who continued to work through the shutdown. The package would also fully fund certain government operations and would reimburse states for money spent on SNAP.

Some RIFs already on hold. Notably, in late October, a federal district court judge preliminarily enjoined further shutdown-related layoffs by federal agencies during the government shutdown and paused the clock on those RIF notices that had already issued during the shutdown, finding that the labor organizations that brought suit, including AFGE and AFSCME, were likely to prevail on the merits of their claims under the APA. The court also concluded that the unions were likely to succeed on their claim that the direction from OMB and OPM that agencies consider RIFs during a shutdown rested on illegal grounds (American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. U.S. Office of Management and Budget, No. 25-cv-08302-SI (N.D. Cal. Oct. 28, 2025)).

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