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Civil Rights for Civil Servants
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Ninety Seconds Before the Rules Change Again: A Monday Practice
Federal employees are starting another week with headlines saying the rules changed again — and for a lot of people the shoulders are already up at the ears before the first cup of...
VA Union Contract and August 8: What the Master Agreement Actually Says
The AFGE–VA master agreement reaches its three-year terminal date on August 8, 2026, and whether the contract ends that day comes down to a single paragraph that most coverage has ...
Congress Required This DoD Office by Law. It Went From 40 People to 9.
Federal employees have watched a familiar pattern repeat across agencies this year, and a Pentagon office offers one of the clearest examples yet: an office Congress required by st...
Could Jackler v. DOJ Weaken Civil Service Rights?
An agricultural commodity grader and a federal immigration judge may seem to have little in common. Yet a new congressional brief in Jackler v. Department of Justice argues that th...
Veterans’ Preference Is Not a Federal Hiring Flaw
A FedRAMP hiring controversy has exposed a familiar problem in federal workforce debates: blaming the legal protection instead of examining how the hiring process was designed and ...
Same Therapy, Opposite Rules: A Federal Court Lesson on Discrimination Evidence
A federal judge has ordered the government to explain an apparent contradiction in its own policies—and buried inside that dispute is a practical lesson about how discrimination is...
“Probationers Have No Rights” Is a Myth: Three Doors That Stay Open
If you are a probationary federal employee, you have probably heard some version of this: “You’re on probation. They can fire you for anything. There’s nothing you can do.” That be...
Is One Business Day a “Reasonable Time to Answer”? Inside the Proposed OPM–MSPB Rule
A proposed federal rule could give you as little as one business day to answer a proposed suspension—and if you are a federal employee, that is worth understanding now, while it is...
TikTok Is Legal on Government Phones Again. Here's Why You Should Still Keep It Off Yours.
The government just told federal employees they can download TikTok on a work phone again — and a federal employment attorney's advice is still to keep your thumb off that button. ...
The House Passed a Stopgap to December 4. Here's Your Real Shutdown Timeline.
A federal government shutdown remains a real possibility this fall, even though the House just voted to fund the government. On Tuesday, the House passed a stopgap continuing resol...
What Is a "Mixed Case"? The Federal Employment Term That Controls Your Deadline
If you're a federal employee facing a removal, demotion, or long suspension, and you believe discrimination played a role, the label "mixed case" isn't just legal jargon — it deter...
Return-to-Office Orders Are (Mostly) Legal — But Disability Accommodations Are a Different Story
A recent Federal News Network survey found that most federal employees say returning to the office has made them less productive — but for most workers, a return-to-office (RTO) or...
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