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

The CFPB Layoff Freeze Held — But the D.C. Circuit Did More Than Headlines Are Saying

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The headlines say the federal appeals court kept the CFPB layoff freeze in place. That part is accurate. But the D.C. Circuit did more than that — and the part most reporting has g...

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Hundreds of ODNI Jobs Are on the Line — What Intelligence Community Employees Need to Know About Their Rights

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The office Congress built after the September 11 attacks to prevent the next intelligence failure is being downsized again — and this time, faster.

ODNI's own website now lists Bi...

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Screwworm Outbreak Shows Risk of USDA Staffing Cuts

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The confirmed New World screwworm case in Zavala County, Texas, is more than an animal-health headline. For federal employees, it is a reminder that public service capacity is ofte...

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FEHB Medical Records and OPM Privacy Risks

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Federal employees are right to ask careful questions when the agency that oversees their health benefits seeks access to detailed medical claims data. The issue now surrounding the...

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The Federal Oath Is Not a Loyalty Pledge

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Federal employees swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution. That distinction matters. The civil service is designed to serve the public through lawful, competent, nonpa...

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Jackler v. DOJ and MSPB Appeal Rights

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Federal employees should be watching Jackler v. Department of Justice closely. The case involves two career immigration judges, Megan Jackler and Brandon Jaroch, who were removed f...

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Political Favoritism and Federal Employee Rights

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Federal employees are trained to serve the public without regard to party, ideology, or political preference. That is why reports of disaster funding disparities between Democratic...

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TSA Travel Waste and Whistleblower Rights

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Federal employees are often the first to see the gap between what leadership says and what agencies actually do. According to the transcript, TSA cut roughly 3,000 workers in the n...

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OSHA Rights After USPS Worker Deaths

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A United States senator’s inquiry into the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto, Georgia, should matter to every federal employee who has ever raised a s...

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DOGE Alumni, AI Contracts, and Federal Ethics

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Federal employees have spent the last year living through workforce reductions, reorganizations, and shifting directives justified in the name of efficiency. Now, according to Vani...

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VA LGBTQ+ Care Coordinator Memo: Employee Rights

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For nearly a decade, VA facilities have included LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinators—roles created in 2016 after the agency identified that LGBTQ+ veterans were not consistently recei...

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Public Doubts Federal Cuts Improved Efficiency

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Federal employees have spent the past year absorbing reductions, reorganizations, removals, and shifting workplace expectations—all often justified in the name of making government...

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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.

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About 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.

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