The Trump administration is playing games with Veteran Affairs and a federal judge isn’t having it.
A Rhode Island federal judge moved Friday to enforce her own court order requiring the VA to restore its contract with the federal employees union and put the department on notice that contempt proceedings could follow. A contempt hearing is now scheduled for April 3.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose issued a preliminary injunction ordering the VA to reinstate its collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees, ruling that the department’s original termination of the contract violated the First Amendment and federal law. The contract covers more than 300,000 VA employees. The VA technically complied but management refused to actually honor any of the contract’s terms. Just words on paper, no action.
One VA employee who recently gave birth was told by management that the union hadn’t been reinstated, maternity leave couldn’t be extended, and she needed to report to work as scheduled.
Then, on Thursday night, the night before a court hearing on the union’s request to enforce the ruling, the VA pulled a new stunt. They issued a fresh termination notice for the same contract and argued that this new termination made the entire court case moot.
The judge wasn’t buying it. She called it “blatant disrespect” for her order and gave the VA until the close of business Tuesday, March 31 to explain why she shouldn’t hold them in contempt.
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