American Federation of Gov't Employees Local 2305 v. United States Department of Veterans Affairs

── American Federation of Gov't Employees Local 2305 v. United States Department of Veterans Affairs ── Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Date: May 16, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 26-1321 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES LOCAL 2305; AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NATIONAL VETERANS AFFAIRS COUNCIL, Plaintiffs, Appellees, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; DOUGLAS A. COLLINS, in the official capacity as U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Defendants, Appellants. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND [Hon. Melissa R. DuBose, U.S. District Judge] Before Barron, Chief Judge, Aframe and Dunlap, Circuit Judges. Charles C. Calenda, United States Attorney, Brett A. Shumate, Assistant Attorney General, Yaakov M. Roth, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Melissa N. Patterson, Joshua M. Koppel, Benjamin T. Takemoto, Tyler J. Becker, Attorneys, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, were on brief for appellants. Brook Dooley, Travis Silva, JiLon Li, Alexandra Wheeler, Elizabeth Heckmann, Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, David Zimmer, Edwina Clarke, and Zimmer, Citron & Clarke LLP were on brief for appellees. May 16, 2026  BARRON, Chief Judge. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") and its Secretary, Douglas A. Collins (collectively, the "defendants"), seek to stay two District Court orders -- one issuing a preliminary injunction and the other enforcing that injunction -- while their interlocutory appeals of those orders are pending in this Court. The orders concern the termination of a collective bargaining agreement between the VA and the American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council ("NVAC"). The agreement also covers employees whom the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2305 ("AFGE Local 2305") represents. NVAC and AFGE Local 2305 (collectively, the "plaintiffs") challenged the defendants' termination of the agreement in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The plaintiffs allege that the termination violated the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We grant the defendants' motion for a stay pending appeal in part and deny it in part. The defendants' accompanying motion for an administrative stay is denied as moot. See Victim Rts. L. Ctr. v. U.S. Dep't of Educ., 154 F.4th 5, 11 (1st Cir. 2025). - 3 -  I. A. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 includes the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute ("FSLMRS"), which gives federal employees the "right" to collectively bargain. See Pub. L. No. 95-454, § 701, 92 Stat. 1111, 1191 (1978) (codified at 5 U.S.C. §§ 7101-06, 7111-23, and 7131-35); Ohio Adjutant Gen.'s Dep't v. Fed. Lab. Rels. Auth., 598 U.S. 449, 452 (2023). The FSLMRS creates "a comprehensive framework governing labor-management relations in federal agencies," Ohio Adjutant, 598 U.S. at 452, and establishes the Federal Labor Relations Authority ("FLRA") to manage this framework, see 5 U.S.C. § 7104. The FLRA determines whether a union has been selected, for collective bargaining purposes, to be the "exclusive representative" for the employees in an agency or agency subdivision. Id. § 7105(a)(2)(B).