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On October 15th, a judge in the US District Court ruled in a lawsuit brought by federal labor unions, that recent layoffs by the Trump administration during the shutdown were illegal, and placed at least a temporary halt on those actions and any future Reduction and Force (RIF) actions across the federal government impacting employees under those unions during a shutdown. In response to this ruling, NASA Chief Human Capital Officer, Kelly Elliot made a declaration in court on October 17th that NASA would abide by this ruling. On October 21st the lawsuit was amended to add additional unions and plaintiffs, including IFPTE, the international union under which GESTA is a local. And on October 22nd, the judge in the case ordered that the temporary restraining order be expanded to include those additional agencies and unions. The restraining order was extended by the judge “indefinitely” on October 28th. The bottom line is that under this amended lawsuit and restraining order, NASA is now prevented from carrying out RIF actions impacting GESTA or other NASA IFPTE employees during this shutdown. Note the direction by the judge in this case is that this ruling applies even though NASA and other agencies may no longer be recognizing union bargaining rights. If interested, you can follow this case on Court Listener.
As the federal government shutdown carries on and we miss our paychecks, we understand this creates financial strain and anxiety for many. We encourage our members and other impacted federal employees and contractors to explore the following resources compiled below. Many of these provide avenues to receive financial support (personal loans, delays on utility payments, unemployment insurance, food support) until back pay is provided at the end of this shutdown:
We have heard reports of Goddard-campus civil servants being directed to come onsite during the shutdown to complete building move activities, including moves of both offices and laboratories. We have significant concerns that such activities during a government shutdown may be illegal under the Antideficiency Act, which defines what activities may continue during a lapse in appropriations (see also the NASA shutdown Continuity of Operations Plan). Violating the Antideficiency Act carries potential penalties of suspension without pay, removal from office, fines of up to $5000, or up to two years in prison.
Any work that happens during a shutdown also has to be approved, first at the Center management level and then at the NASA HQ-level by a Shutdown Executive Committee (SEC) led by the Agency Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Stephen Shinn. If you receive instructions that you believe may violate the Antideficiency Act, we recommend that you do the following (note that you can do these in any order, or at the same time). Take action by reaching out to your Congressional leaders to encourage them to pass a bipartisan government funding bill which ends the current shutdown, while protecting Congress’s constitutional powers to set agency funding levels. As IFPTE notes on their action page: “a bipartisan CR needs to include legislative language protecting congressionally approved funding levels from being withheld by the Administration and prevent a unilateral implementation of the President’s budget contrary to Congressional intent. The Administration has already used unprecedented tactics such as "pocket rescissions" to withhold funds until they expire, effectively nullifying bipartisan funding agreements. Without legislative safeguards, any 2026 funding deal risks being ignored or overturned, which completely undermines the Constitutional authority of Congress to set and approve spending levels.”
You can send a letter directly via IFPTE’s action page: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-the-shutdown-get-back-to-work-and-pass-a-bipartisan-funding-bill?source=direct_link& We have heard a lot of misinformation circulating about how a government shutdown might affect the possibility of a Reduction and Force (RIF). The bottom line is: a government shutdown does not result in automatic RIFs, nor does it give agencies any new authority or obligation to conduct RIFs.
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GESTA IFPTE
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