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Civil Rights for Civil Servants
Hear Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor explain federal employee rights, public service, workplace systems, and the people navigating them.
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Shutdown Layoffs Off the Table: What the Union Settlement Requires Agencies to Do
The shutdown RIF settlement announced last Friday puts in writing something federal employees have been waiting to hear: agencies are pulling layoffs out of their shutdown plans. T...
OPM Capped Top Performance Ratings at 40%. Here's Why It Now Matters in a RIF.
OPM's new cap on performance ratings means no more than 40 percent of General Schedule employees at an agency can receive the top two ratings, combined. That would matter on its ow...
More Than 100 Rulings Against the Government Since 2025: What Federal Employees Have Won
Since January 2025, judges, arbitrators, and the Merit Systems Protection Board have ruled against actions taken against federal employees more than 100 times. If you have been fee...
Judge Rules DHS Plan to Cut FEMA in Half Was Unlawful: What FEMA CORE Employees Need to Know
A federal judge has ruled that the DHS plan to cut FEMA in half was unlawful, delivering a major win for FEMA employees. On Friday, September 11, 2026, Judge Susan Illston of the U...
EPA Says It Is "Not Bound" by an Arbitrator's RIF Award. Federal Law Says Otherwise.
EPA lost an arbitration over its 2025 reduction in force and reorganization, and its entire public response, as reported by Federal News Network, was eight words: "EPA is not bound...
HUD Filed a Reorganization Plan, Then Withdrew It: What It Means for Federal Employees and RIF Risk
The HUD reorganization plan that appeared on the Federal Register's public inspection list on September 4 β and disappeared the same day β has federal employees asking a familiar q...
IRS Audit Collections Fell 35% the Year It Lost a Quarter of Its Audit Staff, Watchdog Finds
IRS audit collections fell 35 percent last year, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in the same year the agency lost roughly 27 p...
Your Weather App Is Not Broken. The Federal Data Behind It Was Cut.
If your weather app has stopped being able to tell you whether it will rain, the app is not the problem β the federal weather data underneath it is. Almost every forecast in this c...
Three Doors: The Only Ways Your Rating of Record Can Change After It Is Issued
Your rating of record cannot be quietly changed after it is issued. Under the performance appraisal rule that took effect on August 6, 2026, there are exactly three ways a rating o...
GAO: FEMA Cut 4,500 Employees With No Workforce Plan β What That Means If Your Agency Is Downsizing
FEMA lost roughly 4,500 employees in eighteen months without ever assessing what the agency actually needed, according to a new Government Accountability Office audit β and the age...
RIF'd From a Federal Job? Two Reemployment Rights You Already Have
A federal reduction in force doesn't just end with your last day β for many employees, it opens rights that already exist under current law, whether or not Congress ever acts on th...
DOGE Is Dead. The Damage to the Federal Workforce Isn't.
DOGE β the Department of Government Efficiency β officially shut down on July 4, but the damage to the federal workforce it leaves behind is only now coming into focus. When Congre...
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