Federal employee unions are asking a federal judge to halt USDA’s reorganization, arguing the agency is using employee relocations to reduce its workforce without congressional approval.
The request comes as thousands of USDA employees face decisions this summer on whether to relocate to new offices or leave their jobs. While USDA has maintained the reorganization is intended to bring employees closer to farmers, ranchers and rural communities, the plaintiffs allege internal agency documents show USDA expects a significant number of employees to reject reassignment.
The American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are among a broader coalition seeking a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Plaintiffs challenge plan
In a memorandum in support of the injunction filed on July 1, the plaintiffs allege that USDA developed an Agency Reduction-in-Force and Reorganization Plan (ARRP) under directives from President Donald Trump, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management.
The lawsuit alleges USDA began implementing the plan this spring across the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Food and Nutrition Administration, Agricultural Research Service, Economic Research Service (ERS), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Foreign Agricultural Service, Rural Development and other mission areas. Plaintiffs contend the relocations are intended to produce large-scale workforce reductions, despite USDA’s public statements to the contrary.
“These actions, as USDA has internally admitted, will cause dramatic attrition, impair critical services, and interrupt important research,” the unions assert in the filing. “USDA also aims to move programs, offices, and research far from the local communities and environments they are intended to serve.
“Yet USDA has never grappled with or addressed these overwhelmingly negative impacts; instead, it has denied any attrition and deliberately ignored the impact of attrition on the agency, its employees, and the functions and services Congress intends it to perform,” the filing read.
USDA sought smaller workforce
The lawsuit points to USDA’s April 2025 ARRP, which called for reducing the department’s overall workforce by 23%, or 31% when excluding public safety and inspection employees.
The plan identified larger reductions in several USDA agencies. According to court filings, the plan called for workforce reductions of at least 46% at the Food and Nutrition Service, 43% at the Agricultural Research Service and ERS, 39% at NIFA, 47% within Rural Development and 34% at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The USFS faced a 15% reduction.
The complaint alleges remaining staff will be required to take on more work as employees are separated through relocation and restructuring.
The alleged impacts extend to agricultural research and conservation programs. The plaintiffs contend staffing losses could delay research funding and grant administration, resulting in the loss of USDA scientists involved in ongoing research. The complaint also raises concerns about reduced USFS capacity for public lands management and for wildfire prevention and response.
According to Federal News Network, an April 2025 internal planning document said USDA anticipated a significant number of employees would decline geographic reassignment from the National Capital Region or existing regional and state offices to five targeted hubs.
USDA reorganization plan
Rollins announced the reorganization last year, saying USDA had become “bloated, expensive and unsustainable.”
As previously reported by WLJ, the plan is built around four goals: aligning the workforce with available financial resources and agricultural priorities, bringing USDA closer to producers, eliminating management layers and consolidating redundant support functions.
USDA identified Raleigh, NC; Kansas City, MO; Indianapolis, IN; Fort Collins, CO; and Salt Lake City, UT, as its five regional hubs.
At the time, USDA said about 4,600 employees worked in the National Capital Region and expected no more than 2,000 to remain there after the reorganization.
The plaintiffs, however, argue the relocation effort amounts to a workforce reduction comparable to direct layoffs and will cause immediate harm if allowed to continue.
The unions are asking the court to temporarily block USDA from implementing the reorganization while the lawsuit proceeds.
The motion seeks to prevent USDA from reorganizing or downsizing component agencies, closing or consolidating offices and transferring programs or functions. It would also stop additional management-directed reassignment letters and prevent USDA from separating employees based on their response, or failure to respond, to relocation notices.
The court has scheduled a hearing on the preliminary injunction motion for Aug. 21 in San Francisco, CA. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
