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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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When DOGE Policies Hit Home: Federal Workers Speak Out
When sweeping policies land in Washington, headlines often focus on politics, numbers, and high-level strategy. What’s harder to capture is what those shifts feel like in the cubic...
Pentagon’s Rare Generals’ Summit: What It Means for DoD Civilians
Next week, hundreds of generals, admirals, and senior enlisted advisors have been ordered to gather at Quantico for an unusual in-person session with the Secretary of Defense. Whil...
Gratitude as a Legal Anchor in Uncertain Federal Times
If you are a federal employee right now, you don’t need a reminder that the landscape feels unstable. Shutdown deadlines, RIF whispers, and questions about pending cases can make e...
Interior Department RIFs: What Federal Employees Need to Know
Employees at the Department of the Interior (DOI) are facing a serious development: agency leadership has begun finalizing reduction-in-force (RIF) lists, with potential impacts ac...
Court Rules Trump’s IG Firings Were Unlawful
A federal judge recently found that former President Trump unlawfully removed 17 Inspectors General (IGs). By law, the President must give Congress 30 days’ notice and provide a sp...
OMB Memo Links Shutdowns to RIF Threats
Shutdowns are never easy for federal employees. Normally, the drill is painful but familiar: furloughs stop your paycheck, then Congress eventually funds the government, and you re...
Hidden OMB “Spend Plans” and Risks for Federal Staff
In recent weeks, watchdog groups have revealed a troubling development at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Although a federal court ordered OMB to restore its public appo...
Federal Employee Shutdown Survival Guide
If funding lapses after September 30, both furloughed and excepted employees stop receiving pay. The 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act guarantees back pay—including overt...
GSA Rescinds PBS RIF Notices: What Returning Employees Need to Know
The General Services Administration (GSA) has just made a surprising move: rescinding RIF notices for hundreds of employees in the Public Buildings Service (PBS). Many of you now f...
Supreme Court Puts FTC Independence on the Line
On September 22, the Supreme Court allowed President Trump to remove Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, despite the Federal Trade Commission Act’s explicit protections a...
Federal Employee Rights in a Government Shutdown
With just over a week until the September 30 funding deadline, federal employees are left in limbo. Unlike prior years, when the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published eve...
Religious Accommodation Rights for Federal Employees
For decades, agencies could deny religious accommodations by pointing to any “more than tiny” cost or inconvenience. That changed in Groff v. DeJoy. Now, under Title VII, an agency...
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