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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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Federal employees, the plaintiffs in the shutdown-RIF lawsuit are now asking the court to extend its temporary restraining order (TRO) into a Preliminary Injunction—a longer-term s...
Federal employees across agencies remain protected under Judge Susan Illston’s Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), which continues to block all shutdown-related Reduction in Force (...
Federal employees, here’s where things stand in the AFGE/AFSCME case that’s temporarily blocking shutdown-related RIFs. As of this week, the Department of the Interior has disclose...
There’s a major update out of federal court—and it affects thousands of you navigating the shutdown’s uncertainty. On Friday, Judge Susan Illston expanded and clarified the Tempora...
For the first time in modern memory, federal agencies have begun issuing reduction-in-force (RIF) notices while the government is shut down. More than 4,000 employees—across agenci...
Hundreds of DHS employees were just told to accept rapid reassignments to border and immigration posts—or risk removal. That includes CISA cyber defenders, FEMA staff in storm seas...
Good news for federal employees: the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has its quorum back. On October 7, the Senate confirmed James Woodruff, restoring at least two sitting me...
For many federal employees, this shutdown feels different. Early this week, the administration floated a new legal argument claiming that furloughed workers might not be automatica...
Federal employees, take a breath. As of today, the White House appears to be stepping back from immediate plans for large-scale Reductions in Force (RIFs). That’s not a promise the...
If you haven’t gotten a furlough notice yet, you might soon. Agencies that relied on leftover funding are exhausting it, and new rounds of furloughs are unfolding daily. More than ...
Federal unions have filed a lawsuit against the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), challenging recent guidance that encouraged agen...
On September 30, 2025, federal employees won an important reprieve. Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for D.C. issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump admin...
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Podcast
Hear Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor explain federal employee rights, public service, workplace systems, and the people navigating them.
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