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

Gender Delusion Disqualification Act: Would a Diagnosis Alone End a Federal Career?

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Should a medical diagnosis, by itself, disqualify a federal employee from a job β€” regardless of that employee's record? That is the question raised by the Gender Delusion Disqualif...

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Congress Funded a 3.8% Raise for Air Traffic Controllers. The FAA Is Withholding Most of It β€” Legally.

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Air traffic controllers were promised a 3.8 percent pay raise in April, funded by Congress β€” and so far, the FAA has paid out just 1 percent. The remaining 2.8 percent is being hel...

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HUD Filed a Reorganization Plan, Then Withdrew It: What It Means for Federal Employees and RIF Risk

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The HUD reorganization plan that appeared on the Federal Register's public inspection list on September 4 β€” and disappeared the same day β€” has federal employees asking a familiar q...

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The FBI Quietly Lowered Its Own Hiring Bar in June. The Standard for Rank-and-File Feds Did Not Move.

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The FBI lowered its own hiring standards in a June 16, 2026 internal memo, according to CBS News, while the suitability and conduct standards applied to rank-and-file federal emplo...

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Should Musk Testify Under Oath? Two House Democrats Ask After GAO Finds DOGE Savings of $92 Million, Not $10.5 Billion

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Two House Democrats have asked for Elon Musk and DOGE officials to testify under oath about DOGE's savings numbers, after a GAO audit found that DHS's claimed $10.5 billion in cont...

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D.C. Circuit: IRS Data-Sharing With ICE "Indisputably Contravenes" Federal Tax Privacy Law

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The lawsuit filed to keep DOGE out of IRS taxpayer data just won at the D.C. Circuit. On September 8, 2026, a unanimous panel in Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS, No. 26-5006 (D.C...

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Searched by Diagnosis Code: What the Pentagon's Medical Record Reviews Mean for Every Federal Employee's Confidential File

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Federal employee medical privacy is suddenly a live question. Federal News Network reported this week that service members are being identified for separation through their electro...

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USDA Says 64% Accepted Relocation. Employees Say the Accept Button Was Not a Choice.

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USDA directed reassignments are back in federal court, and the number the department gave the judge is now in dispute. On August 28, a senior USDA official told the court that 725 ...

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GAO Audit: DHS Claimed $10.5 Billion in DOGE Contract Savings. Auditors Found $92 Million.

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A new GAO audit of DHS contract terminations has put a hard number on the DOGE savings claims that federal employees heard all year. The Department of Homeland Security publicly re...

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You Won at the MSPB but the Agency Appealed: Why You Should Still Be Paid While You Wait

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MSPB interim relief is the rule that answers a painful scenario. You won your Merit Systems Protection Board case in March. The Administrative Judge ordered you back to work. The a...

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Can the Postal Service Reject Your Ballot? The USPS Mail Ballot Rule, the Whistleblower, and the Court Order

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The USPS mail ballot rule is about to collide with the election calendar. On September 4, North Carolina mails the first ballots of the 2026 midterms. At the same time, the Postal ...

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Paid 24.72% Under Market, Then Frozen: What the 2027 Federal Pay Freeze Letter Really Says

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The federal pay gap is the number almost nobody is covering. Most of the reporting on the 2027 federal pay freeze has focused on the zero itself, or on what next year might bring. ...

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