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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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Is Title VII Really “Colorblind”? What the Law Requires
Federal employees are hearing a new phrase surface in official discourse: that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is “colorblind.” At first glance, that idea may sound reassuring—fa...
Black History Month in Federal Workplaces: Who Makes It Happen
If someone has ever been responsible for planning a Black History Month event at work, the pattern is familiar. The group emails. The speaker outreach. The scramble to make somethi...
OPM’s Schedule Policy/Career Explained
Yesterday, the Office of Personnel Management finalized a rule creating a new category called Schedule Policy/Career. While the name may sound technical—or even benign—the substanc...
OPM’s Push for Forced Performance Ratings Explained
Federal employees are getting an early warning about a major shift in how performance may be evaluated in the FY 2026 appraisal cycle. According to statements from OPM Director Sco...
Schedule Policy/Career: How Civil Service Protections Could Change
Federal employees are waking up to a significant shift in the civil service landscape. Reporting indicates that OPM is expected to finalize a rule creating a new classification—oft...
Congress Quietly Extended RIF Protections—Here’s What That Means
Federal employees are hearing a lot of noise about layoffs—and most of it misses a critical development. Even though the recent shutdown has ended, Congress quietly extended a key ...
DHS Funding Deadline: ICE/CBP Guardrails Protect Everyone
As Congress approaches another Department of Homeland Security funding deadline, the conversation often turns abstract—numbers, headlines, and partisan talking points. Recent testi...
OPM Back Pay Guidance Changes and a New Bill That Could Fix It
Federal employees may feel relief that the recent shutdown ended, but a quiet change by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) deserves attention. OPM recently removed language f...
Black History Month: Practicing Racial Justice at Work
Black History Month is often framed as a time for reflection, celebration, and learning. For federal employees, it can also be a moment to think more deeply about how racial justic...
During a Shutdown, Get Your Work Status in Writing
When a shutdown or funding lapse looms, many federal employees report the same unsettling pattern: offices acting as if it’s “business as usual,” while managers avoid putting anyth...
Shutdown Update: DHS is the Pressure Point
Many federal employees woke up this morning hoping for closure. The partial shutdown is only a few days old, and there is a real chance it ends later today. If that happens, some f...
Black Federal Employees: Progress, Power, and What Endures
Black History Month has reached its 100-year mark. Black federal employment stretches back nearly 160 years. Those timelines invite a hard but necessary question for today’s workfo...
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