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

OPM Wants to Cut the Survey Questions That Measure Federal Employee Morale

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OPM has proposed rewriting the one survey that measures how federal employees actually feel about their jobs and their leadership. The proposed rule would decentralize the Federal ...

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DOGE Is Dead. The Damage to the Federal Workforce Isn't.

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DOGE β€” the Department of Government Efficiency β€” officially shut down on July 4, but the damage to the federal workforce it leaves behind is only now coming into focus. When Congre...

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OPM's Proposed Rule: A 30-Day PIP Cap and Removal by Default

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A newly proposed rule from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) could reshape how federal performance cases work β€” capping performance improvement periods at 30 days and making...

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Douglas Factors Proposal and Federal Discipline

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For more than forty years, federal employees have had a structured way to challenge discipline that feels excessive, inconsistent, or unsupported. That structure comes from the Dou...

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Federal Court Blocks FLRA From Stripping Career Staff of Union Election Authority

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For once, the news out of the Federal Labor Relations Authority is good for federal employees and their unions.

Background: More Than 40 Years of Career Oversight

Since 1983, car...

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NTEU Sues Treasury and HHS Over Thousands of Stalled Accommodation Requests

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Federal employees waiting on disability accommodation requests at the IRS, HHS, or CDC just got some backing. On Monday, the National Treasury Employees Union sued the Treasury Dep...

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OPM's Forced Distribution Rule: What It Means for Your Federal Performance Rating

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Federal performance ratings are about to look very different. This week, the Office of Personnel Management finalized the biggest overhaul of federal employee performance ratings i...

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OPM's New Suitability Rule Lets Agencies Bar Federal Employees for Up to Three Years

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Starting July 30, 2026, federal agencies will have a new way to remove employees already on the job β€” one built for screening applicants, not managing an existing workforce. The Of...

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Bureau of Prisons Closures and RIF Notices: What Affected Employees Need to Know

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The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced this week that it is closing six federal correctional facilities across five states. The agency says many affected employees can transfer to a...

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DoD Canceled Your Union Contract β€” Your EEO and MSPB Rights Didn't Go With It

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Across the Defense Department, some civilian employees are reportedly being told by managers that their union no longer exists. That claim is false β€” and it matters, because employ...

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Federal Employees: Communicate Before Crisis

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For federal employees, communication is no longer a soft skill. It can be the difference between preserving your record and creating an avoidable problem. A rushed email to a super...

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The Labor Leader Who Forced Federal Action

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A. Philip Randolph is not always the first name federal employees hear when they learn about civil rights. But his work helped change the relationship between Black workers, federa...

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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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