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

The MSPB Deleted "Independent" From Its Website. Here's What Actually Changed for Your Case.

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This week, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) quietly deleted the word "independent" from its website, its LinkedIn page, and even a job posting β€” and the change is raising ...

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OPM Cut a Third of Its Own Workforce β€” Here's What That Means for Your Benefits

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The agency that runs your retirement, your health insurance, and your federal HR records has cut its own staff by roughly a third since the end of 2024 β€” and a new government watch...

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Why Your FERS Pension Depends on Social Security's Finances

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If you're a federal employee under the Federal Employees Retirement System, Social Security isn't a side benefit sitting next to your pension β€” it's one of three legs your entire r...

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IRS Ordered to Restore Telework After Walking Out of Its Own Arbitration

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Federal employees at the IRS just won a major telework fight β€” and the agency didn't even show up to defend itself. An independent arbitrator ruled that the IRS violated its collec...

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What Federal Employees Still Legally Keep: Chapter 75, Whistleblower, and EEO Rights

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After a year of reclassifications, proposed rule changes, and reduction-in-force notices, it can feel like federal employees have lost every protection Congress ever gave them. Tha...

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Steady: A 90-Second Breathing Practice to Start Your Federal Work Week

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Workplace stress is not just an inconvenience for federal employees living through a year of hiring freezes, reorganizations, and reduction-in-force notices β€” it is a documented he...

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Government Shutdown Looming October 1: Three Moves for Federal Employees to Make Now

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A government shutdown could begin as soon as October 1, 2026, and federal employees who wait until the fiscal year ends to prepare may find themselves scrambling. Congress has pass...

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OPM's New Suitability Rule, and Why One Outlet Called It "Nixonian"

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OPM's new suitability rule lets the agency order the removal of a sitting federal employee for conduct that happened after they were hired β€” and Government Executive's headline for...

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RIF'd From a Federal Job? Two Reemployment Rights You Already Have

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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...

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Schedule Policy/Career: What You Lose, What Survives

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OPM's Schedule Policy/Career reclassification converted roughly 8,000 career federal positions last month into an at-will job category β€” and more than 50 members of Congress now sa...

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Your Agency's NDA Cannot Erase Your Whistleblower Rights

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A nondisclosure agreement cannot be used to block a federal employee from reporting wrongdoing β€” that protection comes from statute, not from whatever a form says, and it holds reg...

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Judge Orders DOJ to Restore Telework for Two Disabled EOIR Attorneys

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A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to restore full-time telework accommodations for two attorney-advisors in DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review, findi...

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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.

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.

Meet Shaun & Lydia

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