The Federal Employee Survival Blog
Cut through the jargon and get the clarity you need to stay a step ahead of agency politics. Each article unpacks new policy shifts, court rulings, and workplace trends, then turns them into actionable tactics—so you can head off discipline, invoke EEO or whistleblower protections with confidence, and keep your documentation airtight. We also archive our most popular social-media explainer threads here, giving you the same insights followed by more than 150,000 people online even if you never scroll on those sites. Read, prepare, and keep your federal career firmly in your control.
There’s big news coming out of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): the feared mass RIF (Reduction in Force) affecting 80,000 employees is officially off the table. Instead, leadership is opting t...
Russell Vought, former OMB Director and self-styled “trauma king,” once said the quiet part out loud: that his goal was to make civil servants afraid to come to work. But last week, a federal judge pu...
A lesser-known legal challenge quietly gaining traction could have major implications for senior-level federal employees. In Oyer v. Department of Justice, DOJ argues that a longtime career employee—L...
Some agencies that once charged ahead with mass reductions in force (RIFs) are now quietly tapping the brakes. Officially, they’re citing early retirements and voluntary departures as sufficient workf...
On July 16, 2025, the D.C. Circuit Court allowed President Trump’s executive order to take effect, redefining more than 30 federal agencies as “national-security” operations. While the name sounds tec...
If you’re a federal employee watching the Reduction in Force (RIF) situation unfold, you’re likely feeling the emotional whiplash. Just this week, the White House admitted to tracking 70 active RIF ac...
Federal employees, especially those affected by recent RIFs at the Department of Education, are right to feel unsettled. In McMahon v. New York, the Supreme Court issued a brief, unsigned “Shadow Dock...
A new filing in the California RIF lawsuit reveals the Biden administration’s decision to keep federal layoff plans—formally called Agency RIF & Reorganization Plans (ARRPs)—under wraps. For federal e...
The July 11 layoff notices at the U.S. State Department sent shockwaves through the federal workforce. More than 1,350 employees—civil service and Foreign Service alike—were told their positions are b...
A new Supreme Court order has intensified the uncertainty for federal employees affected by Reduction in Force (RIF) actions—and it’s part of a growing trend. In McMahon v. New York, the Court allowed...
Last Friday, over 1,300 employees at the State Department received notice of a Reduction in Force (RIF). Most were career civil servants; some were Foreign Service officers. For many, the 60-day separ...
The State Department has confirmed reductions in force (RIFs) targeting roughly 3,400 positions, with around 2,000 notices expected to arrive imminently—possibly today. Roles tied to passports, visas,...
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