FLRA Waffles on Changing Restrictions
The rules governing when federal employees can stop payroll deductions for union dues have shifted several times in recent years, changing with the administration at the White House. These changes reflect different interpretations of federal labor law by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) under different presidential administrations.
Longstanding Policy in Place Before 2020
For decades, the FLRA interpreted the federal labor relations statute—specifically 5 U.S.C. § 7115(a)—to allow employees to revoke union dues withholding only during narrow annual windows.
This interpretation originated in a 1981 FLRA decision involving the U.S. Army. Under this approach, employees who authorized dues withholding typically could cancel the deduction only during specific intervals, usually once each year, according to the terms of applicable collective bargaining agreements between an agency and a union representing employees.
2020 Change During the Trump Administration
In 2020, the FLRA reconsidered this interpretation in response to a request from the Office of Personnel Management for guidance.
In Office of Personnel Management, 71 FLRA 571 (2020), the Authority concluded:
The most reasonable way to interpret the phrase “any such assignment may not be revoked for a period of [one] year” is that the phrase governs only the first year of an assignment. Except for the limiting conditions in § 7115(b), which § 7115(a) explicitly acknowledges, nothing in the text of § 7115(a) expressly addresses the revocation of dues assignments after the first year.
In short, the FLRA ruled that while the labor relations law states that a dues assignment “may not be revoked for a period of one year,” it does not say revocation is limited to annual intervals.
The FLRA determined that the most reasonable interpretation of the statute is:
- An employee cannot revoke a dues assignment during the first year, but
- After the first year, the employee may revoke the assignment at any time.
The FLRA then issued a final rule on July 9, 2020, implementing this interpretation. Under that rule, agencies were required to process a revocation request as soon as administratively feasible once the first year had passed.
For federal employees, this meant it became significantly easier to cancel union dues withholding.
2022 Proposed Rule Under the Biden Administration
In December 2022, the FLRA proposed reversing the 2020 policy.
The proposed rule would have done two things:
- Rescinded the 2020 regulation (5 CFR § 2429.19) allowing revocation at any time after the first year.
- Either restored or considered restoring the earlier interpretation that revocation could occur only at one-year intervals.
If implemented, this proposal would have made it more difficult for employees to cancel dues deductions by effectively restoring annual revocation windows.
However, that rule was never finalized.
2026 Action: Proposed Rule Withdrawn
On March 6, 2026, the FLRA announced it was withdrawing the 2022 proposed rule entirely.
Because the proposed rule is being withdrawn rather than finalized, the 2020 regulation remains in effect. This means the current policy continues to allow employees to revoke union dues assignments at any time after the first year.
In announcing the decision, the FLRA stated that withdrawing the proposed rule protects employees’ ability to control their payroll deductions and ensures greater individual choice regarding union dues.
What This Means for Federal Employees
For now, the governing rule remains the one adopted in 2020:
- Employees must keep a dues authorization in place for one year after signing it.
- After the first year, they can revoke the authorization at any time, rather than waiting for a limited annual cancellation period.
While the legal framework has shifted several times in recent years, the latest action by the FLRA leaves the current, more flexible revocation policy unchanged.
