Four federal unions sued Tuesday, Sept. 8, to block a USDA reorganization that would force about 2,600 Washington-area workers to relocate or lose their jobs.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins as defendants. The unions argue the reorganization violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and is proceeding without congressional approval, Maryland Matters reported.

Bethesda and Chevy Chase residents who work at USDA could face reassignment letters requiring them to relocate or leave the agency. The reorganization would move more than half of the department's Washington-area workforce to hubs across the country. About 90% of USDA employees already work outside the D.C. area.

The four plaintiff unions are the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). Prince George's County, Maryland, is also part of the broader coalition, along with Santa Clara County and San Francisco in California, NRDC and several other nonprofit organizations, according to a Democracy Forward press release on behalf of the coalition.

"Congress said no to this reorganization for a reason," NFFE National President Randy Erwin said Tuesday. "The administration must follow the law."

The reorganization plan would close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, a 6,500-acre campus in Prince George's County. USDA announced in July 2025 that the Beltsville center would shut down over several years, KCUR reported.

The plan would also move the Forest Service headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, close all nine Forest Service regional offices and shut 23 research locations across 15 states. Five of seven regional offices of the Food and Nutrition Administration would close, affecting administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

An Aug. 28 court filing from an acting USDA official stated that 64% of the 725 employees told so far to relocate have accepted their reassignments. The unions countered that the figure means at least one in three relocated employees is leaving the agency. They added the rate understates actual departures because it does not count workers who initially accepted relocation to pursue hardship exemptions.

Hundreds or thousands more reassignment letters are expected imminently, according to the complaint. Under the Trump administration, USDA has lost a net total of more than 16,200 employees, according to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data.

The complaint alleges USDA knew forced relocations would drive out experienced employees and never studied what losing that expertise would do to the department's ability to meet its legal obligations.

The lawsuit follows a Sept. 2 ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who denied the unions' request for a preliminary injunction in a separate, broader case involving federal workforce reductions. Illston ruled the USDA reorganization challenge belonged in its own lawsuit.

USDA declined to comment on the new suit, citing a policy against commenting on pending litigation, Maryland Matters reported. Rollins said at a congressional hearing this past summer that the relocations would be a "massive value add" for USDA research.

No hearing date has been set for the preliminary injunction request in the Northern District of California.