It didn’t make headlines, but Aug. 15 should be remembered as Legal Liberation Day for unionized federal workers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit restored to these 1.3 million workers a right that’s been denied to them since 1978: to sue their labor union for unlawful discrimination. Thanks to this long-overdue ruling, federal unions are no longer immune from anti-discrimination laws, and federal workers now have the same right to seek justice as every other worker in America.
The case was brought by Nia Lucas, a former employee of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2020. A disabled veteran who had recently given birth, Nia told her union local, part of the American Federation of Government Employees, that she was discriminated against and not compensated properly. The union sat on the issue for months, only acting after a new union president was elected. Yet even then, according to the case, Nia “alleged that the union had mishandled an arbitration proceeding and discriminated against her based on sex and disability.” She also alleged that after she reported these issues to a national union leadership, they conspired with her union to discriminate and retaliate against her.
If Nia had been a private-sector worker, her path to justice would have been clear: sue the union for violating federal anti-discrimination laws. But under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, the courts said Nia didn’t have that right. Instead, she had to file an unfair labor practice charge with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. She promptly did so, ultimately filing multiple complaints.
But Nia didn’t get justice at FLRA. The regional director dismissed two of her complaints, and the general counsel failed to act on her appeals. According to past interpretations of the law, she could not appeal these decisions to a court or even to the members of FLRA.
Most people would have given up, but Nia refused. She separately went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which told her she could sue her union in federal court. She promptly did so, but the district court reaffirmed that the FLRA, and only the FLRA’s lower-level administrators, had authority to help. In other words, the district court said Nia’s quest to hold her union accountable was effectively over.
Nia appealed to the circuit court. In its Aug. 15 ruling, the court observed the absurdity of the district court’s decision, which gave her union an exemption that was wholly unique in American employment. Nia could have sued her federal agency for violating anti-discrimination laws, and private sector workers can sue both their unions and their employers for the same. But she couldn’t sue her own union. Why should federal unions be uniquely insulated from legal review in court when they unlawfully discriminate?
Thankfully, the circuit court ruled that Nia could, in fact, sue her union in federal court. This victory was not only for her but also for every unionized federal worker because Nia is far from the only person who has been denied the right to seek justice fully.
TRUMP’S BIG WIN AGAINST GOVERNMENT UNION COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
A recent report by Americans for Fair Treatment documented 1,211 complaints by federal workers against their unions between 2015 and 2022, an average of 173 charges a year. Yet only 1% resulted in FLRA action, meaning a mere nine complaints moved forward over an eight-year period. That was the sad reality for federal employees. And the reality for federal workers may have been even worse than these already concerning numbers indicate. Under the old interpretation of the law, federal union officials could be shielded from accountability and review in court. This could have had a chilling effect on workers who would be stuck in an obscure legal process without the ability to go to court.
That era is now over. Unionized federal employees finally stand on equal footing with every other worker in America, with a clear legal pathway to hold their union accountable when it engages in unlawful discrimination. Their rights have been restored after nearly five decades. August 15 should indeed be remembered as Legal Liberation Day — the day federal workers reclaimed the same right to justice and recourse that every other worker in America already enjoys.
Chip Rogers is the CEO of Americans for Fair Treatment.
