A group of federal employees has filed a formal legal complaint accusing the Trump administration of using health policy to pressure transgender individuals and their families out of the federal workforce.
The complaint, submitted Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF), challenges a policy issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that removes federal health insurance coverage for gender-affirming medical care. The filing alleges the policy “plainly discriminates on the basis of sex” and violates long-standing civil rights protections for federal workers.
According to the complaint, OPM announced in August that starting in 2026, “chemical and surgical modification of an individual’s sex traits through medical interventions (to include ‘gender transition’ services) will no longer be covered” under the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) programs. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to restrict or eliminate access to gender-affirming care.
Although the policy is framed as a future change, its effects are already being felt. The PSHB 2026 plan took effect Thursday, while the FEHB plan year begins Jan. 11. As a result, the complaint states, federal workers and their dependents are facing immediate disruptions in coverage.
The HRCF argues the decision represents “the latest development in the Trump administration’s obsession with attacking transgender people,” describing it as an effort to make federal employment untenable for transgender individuals and those with transgender family members.
Among the complainants are a State Department employee enrolled in FEHB who is scheduled to undergo a medical procedure to treat gender dysphoria, and a Postal Service worker whose daughter has been advised by medical professionals to take a puberty blocker and relies on PSHB coverage. Other unnamed federal workers are also included in the class complaint.
Advocates say the loss of coverage is not merely an administrative change but a direct threat to job security and personal health.
“Starting today, untold numbers of federal employees and their families will be left out to dry at the hands of a shameless administration hell-bent on targeting the transgender community,” said Human Rights Campaign Foundation President Kelley Robinson in a statement Thursday. “This policy is not about cost or care – it is about driving transgender people and people with transgender spouses, children, and dependents out of the federal workforce.”
“These federal employees will now be forced into an impossible situation that pits them between their jobs and access to the care they need,” Robinson added. “That is discrimination, plain and simple, and the HRC Foundation refuses to let it stand without a fight.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment when contacted.
The complaint seeks multiple forms of relief, including the rescission of OPM’s policy, a declaratory judgment stating the exclusion violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, retroactive coverage for denied care, and a permanent injunction blocking enforcement of the exclusion. The filing also calls for mandatory training by OPM on equal employment opportunity laws.
If the dispute is not resolved administratively, the complainants plan to pursue class claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and may escalate the matter into a federal class action lawsuit, according to Reuters.
