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Shaun Southworth leading a federal employment training session with members of the Southworth PC team
 

A Federal Court Vacated the Army Dining Waiver. Here's Why It Matters to Your Case.

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Federal employees have a real stake in a court ruling about blind vendors and Army dining halls, even though almost none of them will ever run a cafeteria. The reason has nothing t...

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Can a President Remove an Entire Science Board?

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On April 24, every member of the National Science Board (NSB) was abruptly removed via a brief email from the Presidential Personnel Office. No transition plan. No explanation. Jus...

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FLRA Rule Change: What It Means for Union Rights

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A recent rule change by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) quietly alters a process that has remained stable for more than four decades. Historically, union representatio...

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When Agency Decisions Ignore Expertise

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Recent accounts from a former senior USAID official describe a familiar pattern: leadership sets the outcome first, then asks career staff to explain how to implement it. For feder...

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VA Loan Foreclosures: Legal Gaps Hurting Veterans

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Federal employees and veterans alike understand that government systems are supposed to provide stability—especially in times of crisis. But recent changes to VA-backed mortgage re...

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HHS RIF Lawsuit Survives: What It Means for Feds

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A federal court in Rhode Island recently refused to dismiss the challenge to the March 27 HHS reorganization and reduction in force (RIF). That decision matters because it confirms...

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Unlawful DOJ Leadership and Federal Employee Risk

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A federal judge in New Jersey recently stopped a sentencing hearing, ordered a DOJ prosecutor removed from the courtroom after repeated interruptions, and demanded sworn testimony ...

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DOGE RIF Tactics: Legal Risks for Federal Employees

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Recent deposition testimony from DOGE staff provides one of the clearest factual records yet of how RIF decisions and grant cancellations were executed inside federal agencies. Und...

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When Union Retaliation Crosses the Legal Line

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A recent federal court order requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to restore its union contract did not happen in a vacuum. The decision turned on unusually clear evidence ...

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When ‘Good Enough’ Isn’t Safe: AI and Federal Rulemaking

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Federal employees are increasingly being asked to do more with less—fewer staff, tighter deadlines, and higher stakes. A recent report that the Department of Transportation plans t...

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When Courts Call Out Agency “Starvation” Tactics

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Federal employees often sense when something at work feels off—when “budget issues” start looking less like routine management and more like a strategy to make an office fail. A re...

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NIH Gender Health Grants: When Politics Overrides Science

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For months, a quiet but consequential shift rippled through the National Institutes of Health. Grants touching on gender-related health issues—cancer outcomes, maternal health, men...

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Shaun Southworth & Lydia Taylor

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