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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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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...
One Hundred Officers, One Group Chat: The Lavender Scare and What Federal Employees Should Know Now
Federal employees in the intelligence community are watching a history they were told was closed. In February 2025, roughly one hundred transgender intelligence officers — three of...
Hatch Act Complaint Filed Against the Attorney General: What It Means for Career Federal Employees
The Hatch Act is the law most federal employees know by reputation and few know by text — and it is now at the center of a complaint against the nation’s top law enforcement office...
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...
Needed, But Not Named: When a Federal Detail Ends After Your Identity Goes Public
Losing a federal detail after your identity becomes public is not a personnel technicality — it can be sex discrimination under Title VII, and federal employees are covered. The qu...
DoD's New EEO Pilots: What Defense Employees Should Know Before They File
The Department of Defense EEO complaint process is changing, and Defense civilian employees should understand what is moving before they file. On August 17, 2026, Federal News Netw...
The Labor Department Wants AI to Triage Disability Accommodation Requests
A reasonable accommodation request should be answered by a person who understands your job and your limitations. At the Department of Labor, nearly a thousand employees are waiting...
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...
State Department Screens GS-13s for Schedule Policy/Career: What the Questionnaire Means
If a Schedule Policy/Career questionnaire has landed in your State Department inbox, it is not a survey — it is the front end of a legal determination about your job. Government Ex...
A Federal Court Vacated the Army Dining Waiver. Here's Why It Matters to Your Case.
Federal employees have a real stake in a court ruling about blind vendors and Army dining halls, even though almost none of them will ever run a cafeteria. The reason has nothing t...
GAO Audited DOGE's Ethics Paperwork. Most of It Could Not Be Verified.
Every federal employee knows the annual routine: ethics training, records management training, and — for many positions — a financial disclosure form with a certification block som...
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