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Civil Rights for Civil Servants
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OPM's Return-to-Office Director Filmed His Own Video From Home
Federal telework policy produced an uncomfortable moment this week: the OPM Director leading the government-wide return-to-office push acknowledged, on audio reported by Fortune, t...
Your Free OPM Breach Identity Protection Ends September 30
Free identity protection from the 2015 OPM data breaches ends September 30, 2026, and roughly 22.1 million people are affected by that deadline. If you were a federal employee, app...
Three Doors: The Only Ways Your Rating of Record Can Change After It Is Issued
Your rating of record cannot be quietly changed after it is issued. Under the performance appraisal rule that took effect on August 6, 2026, there are exactly three ways a rating o...
OPM Wants Your FEHB Medical Claims: What the New CRS Report Says
OPM’s request for FEHB medical claims data would place health information for more than eight million federal employees, retirees, and family members in the hands of the agency tha...
OPM Removed the Bias Check on Federal Hiring Assessments: What Changed for Applicants
Federal hiring assessments no longer have to clear the government's 48-year-old bias check before an agency uses one on you. In an interim final rule that took effect immediately, ...
OPM Cut a Third of Its Own Workforce — Here's What That Means for Your Benefits
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 — and a new government watch...
Your Agency's NDA Cannot Erase Your Whistleblower Rights
A nondisclosure agreement cannot be used to block a federal employee from reporting wrongdoing — that protection comes from statute, not from whatever a form says, and it holds reg...
New OPM Rule Requires Family Eligibility Proof for FEHB Every Time
A new Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rule now requires federal employees to prove a family member's eligibility every time that person is added to Federal Employees Health Be...
OPM Wants to Stop Measuring Federal Employee Morale. A New Survey Shows Why That Matters.
A new survey of federal employees who lost their jobs shows lasting damage to their finances and mental health, and it comes right as the Office of Personnel Management proposes cu...
Federal Discipline Without the Douglas Factors: What a New OPM-MSPB Rule Would Change
A new joint proposal from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) would retire the Douglas factors, the 45-year-old framework that ha...
OPM's New Suitability Rule Lets Agencies Bar Federal Employees for Up to Three Years
Starting July 30, 2026, federal agencies will have a new way to remove employees already on the job — one built for screening applicants, not managing an existing workforce. The Of...
OPM and MSPB Propose Retiring the Douglas Factors — What Federal Employees Stand to Lose
For 45 years, before a federal agency could fire, suspend, or demote an employee, it had to work through twelve factors set out in Douglas v. Veterans Administration, 5 M.S.P.R. 28...
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