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

Judge Orders Bureau of Prisons to Reinstate Union Contract Through May 2029

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A federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Prisons to reinstate its union contract, finding that BOP's decision to terminate the agreement was likely arbitrary and capricious. The p...

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FEHB Premiums Rise 10.9% for 2027 as Pay Freeze Looms: 3 Moves Before Open Season Ends

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FEHB premiums for 2027 are rising an average of 10.9 percent, and for many federal employees that increase will arrive in January alongside a proposed pay freeze. Postal Service He...

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IRS “Team C” Reassignments: Your Rights When Your Agency Details You

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IRS details and reassignments are raising hard questions for mid-career federal employees. Imagine you are a GS-13, 14, or 15. The IRS pulls you out of your job, places you on a de...

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Pentagon Insiders Send an “Urgent SOS”: What DoD Employees Should Know About Whistleblower Protections

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Whistleblower protections for DoD employees are suddenly front-page news. Six Pentagon insiders, each with more than six years inside the building, reportedly contacted the Daily M...

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GAO's DOGE Report: Did DOGE Have Access to Your Federal Personnel File?

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Did DOGE have access to your federal personnel file? A new GAO report on DOGE, released September 29, 2026, suggests the honest answer is that we may never fully know, and that for...

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FBI Tells Employees to Assume Hackers Stole Their Personal Data: What Federal Employees Should Do Now

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An internal FBI data breach memo sent Friday told employees the bureau is operating on the premise that hackers are taking personal information on every FBI employee. The memo stat...

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Over 1,000 Hatch Act Complaints, Zero Discipline: What OSC's Shutdown Messaging Report Means for Feds

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The Hatch Act watchdog has decided that no one will be disciplined over last fall's partisan shutdown messaging, even though it received more than 1,000 complaints about messages f...

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A Third Federal Judge Rejects Russ Vought's "$0" CFPB Funding Theory

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A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Friday, September 25, that OMB Director Russ Vought's refusal to request funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) violated the...

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Shutdown Layoffs Off the Table: What the Union Settlement Requires Agencies to Do

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The shutdown RIF settlement announced last Friday puts in writing something federal employees have been waiting to hear: agencies are pulling layoffs out of their shutdown plans. T...

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OPM Capped Top Performance Ratings at 40%. Here's Why It Now Matters in a RIF.

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OPM's new cap on performance ratings means no more than 40 percent of General Schedule employees at an agency can receive the top two ratings, combined. That would matter on its ow...

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VA Told Congress It Cut $120 Billion in Contracts. The Inspector General Found $1.1 Billion.

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A new VA Inspector General report on last year's VA contract terminations found that some staff had only hours, in some cases less than 11, to review hundreds of contracts marked f...

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Forced Federal Relocations Were Sold as Savings. The Receipts Show Millions in Costs.

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This summer's forced federal employee relocations were presented as cost-cutting, but public records gathered by NPR show the government is still paying millions of dollars a year ...

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