Podcast
Civil Rights for Civil Servants
Hear Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor explain federal employee rights, public service, workplace systems, and the people navigating them.
Listen to the podcastNews, rights, tools & learning
Federal Employee Resource Center
Search timely updates, plain-English explainers, practical guides, podcasts, and mindful-action resources. Start with the question you are trying to answer.
Petty Friday: Who Is Andrea Lucas? The EEOC's Chair — and Its Most Effective Opponent
It’s Petty Friday — our weekly commentary for federal employees, where we take the week’s civil rights news with a little humor and a lot of receipts. This week: Andrea Lucas, the ...
Five Changes in the EEOC's Proposed Rule That Matter for Your Federal EEO Case
The EEOC’s proposed rule would demand more detail in your federal EEO complaint before the investigation — and take away your current choice to put the case before an EEOC judge. H...
150 Pages, 30 Days: The EEOC Motion for More Comment Time That Couldn't Get a Second
The EEOC has proposed a 150-page rewrite of the federal EEO complaint process — and federal employees will get just 30 days to comment on it. At the Commission’s meeting, a motion ...
EEOC Proposal: The Agency You Accuse Would Decide Your Discrimination Case First
The EEOC has proposed a major change to the federal EEO complaint process: under the new proposal, the agency you accuse of discrimination would ordinarily decide your case first —...
The Labor Leader Who Forced Federal Action
A. Philip Randolph is not always the first name federal employees hear when they learn about civil rights. But his work helped change the relationship between Black workers, federa...
Black Federal Workers and the Fight for Access
Federal employment is often described as one of the most reliable pathways into the middle class. For many Black families, that became true over time. But it is important not to mi...
EEOC Bias Concerns and Your EEO Case
Federal employees are taught to trust the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) process as a neutral pathway for resolving discrimination claims. But recent reporting raises a harder ...
Negotiated Settlements Terminated: What Feds Should Know
A recent federal decision to terminate long-standing Title IX settlements protecting transgender students presents a legally unusual situation. These agreements—some negotiated ove...
Merit vs. Politics in Federal Promotions
Recent reports involving senior military promotions raise a deeper concern that extends beyond any single agency: the erosion of merit-based decision-making. Allegations that promo...
Black Postal Workers and Federal Legacy
There are moments when public rhetoric attempts to reduce Black federal employees to stereotypes—minimizing generations of service with a single headline or comment. For Black GS e...
Black Federal Employees: History, Policy & Power
Black History Month inside the federal government is more than celebration. It is context. For GS-9 and above employees navigating promotions, discipline, reorganizations, or EEO c...
Is Title VII Really “Colorblind”? What the Law Requires
Federal employees are hearing a new phrase surface in official discourse: that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is “colorblind.” At first glance, that idea may sound reassuring—fa...
More ways to learn
Choose the format that helps you understand what is happening.
The Mindful Federal Employee is part of a broader public-education ecosystem from Shaun Southworth, Lydia Taylor, and Southworth PC. Use the resource that fits the question and the moment.
Mindfulness
Work Peacefully
Use practical mindfulness tools to create space between workplace pressure and the decision you make next.
Explore mindfulness resourcesAbout the people behind the work
Shaun Southworth & Lydia Taylor
Meet the federal employment attorneys behind this public-education work and the podcast Civil Rights for Civil Servants.
Meet Shaun & LydiaThe Federal Employee Briefing
The important developments, without the all-day scroll.
Join 3,900+ federal employees getting sourced workforce news and practical next steps on weekdays. It is a free public-service resource from Southworth PC.