EPA union sues over termination of contract that protected scientific integrity

The union representing about 8,000 Environmental Protection Agency employees sued the agency and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, on Tuesday, asking a federal court to undo the termination of its collective bargaining agreement. American Federation of Government Employees Council 238 filed the case in U.S. District Court in Boston, Federal News Network reported. AFGE Local 3428, which represents hundreds of EPA employees in Boston and covers New England, is also part of the challenge, according to GBH News.

The lawsuit alleges that EPA leadership violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the First Amendment. The union contends that the agency did not justify canceling the contract or consider alternatives, Federal News Network reported.

The agreement was ratified in June 2024 and had been set to remain in effect until June 2028. It included what the union describes as a first-of-its-kind scientific integrity provision, which prevents the agency from retaliating against scientists whose findings differ from the political aims of the current president, according to GBH News.

EPA announced in August 2025 that it was terminating the contract. It became the second federal agency to cancel its union contracts, Government Executive reported at the time. The move followed an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March 2025 that directed most federal agencies to cancel union contracts, citing national security. GBH News reported that the order ended collective bargaining rights at about 20 federal agencies, including EPA.

The timing at the center of the case

The union’s argument rests on the sequence of events in 2025. EPA employees signed a letter of dissent against Trump administration policies in June 2025. The agency terminated the union contract in August 2025, months after the letter but before it began disciplining the employees who signed it, according to Federal News Network.

Justin Chen, president of Council 238, said the timing showed what the agency had been waiting for. “That was a big tell with regards to what they were waiting on, to be able to do this without interference of the unions on behalf of these members,” Chen said, according to Federal News Network.

The complaint says the termination was motivated by a desire to stifle dissent. “The timing and factual circumstances surrounding the termination demonstrate that defendants’ actions were motivated by the desire to stifle political dissent at the agency against President Trump’s agenda,” the lawsuit states, as quoted by Federal News Network.

Discipline of the letter signers

Federal News Network reported that 139 employees were disciplined for signing the dissent letter. Twenty were fired and 119 were suspended without pay. Of those, 110 were covered by the collective bargaining agreement.

Without union representation, the affected employees lost the right to have a union representative present during disciplinary proceedings and the ability to challenge adverse actions through third-party arbitration, Federal News Network reported. A third-party arbitrator previously ruled that EPA violated the agreement by disciplining the signers, according to the same report.

Chen told GBH News that the contract was a “long, hard-fought, fairly negotiated contract between the workers and management.” He also said the inability of EPA workers to speak up on the issue and give practical advice was “tragic.”

Lilly Simmons, president of Local 3428, described what the loss of protection means for scientists in the field. “You go out and you do some water sampling and it’s bad news . . . But are you going lose your job for saying so?” Simmons said.

Other legal challenges and the agency’s workforce

Affected employees have pursued other remedies, Federal News Network reported. Those include individual lawsuits challenging their terminations, appeals to the Merit Systems Protection Board and allegations of whistleblower violations.

The agency’s workforce has also shrunk. Federal News Network reported that EPA, which had about 12,500 employees, has lost more than 4,500 workers under the Trump administration, with additional losses from the dismantling of its Office of Research and Development.

Neither GBH News nor Federal News Network had received a response from EPA to requests for comment as of publication.