Overview
- A class-action complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Monday by five federal employees represented by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
- The lawsuit argues the Office of Personnel Management’s carrier letters that exclude “chemical and surgical modification” for gender transition violate Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination and rely on the 2020 Bostock precedent.
- OPM’s 2025 directives removed coverage for most gender-affirming hormones and surgeries for FEHB and PSHB enrollees and ordered insurers to eliminate a vague “mid-treatment” exception beginning in plan year 2027.
- Plaintiffs describe immediate harms including denied claims, canceled treatment plans and large out-of-pocket bills with one case citing more than $100,000 in expected costs and others facing depleted family savings.
- The suit seeks a permanent injunction, retroactive coverage, damages and fees on behalf of a putative class that research estimates could include roughly 39,400 federal employees, retirees and dependents and OPM had not publicly responded to the filing.