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

Federal EEO Case Data: What Really Matters

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Federal employees often want a clear answer before contacting an attorney: “How do cases like mine usually turn out?” It is an understandable question. When your career, reputation...

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Federal Employee Podcast Launch on Juneteenth

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Federal employees are carrying a lot right now: discipline concerns, probationary uncertainty, EEO questions, shifting workplace rules, and the constant need to understand what is ...

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When “Gross” Becomes a Legal Issue

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Rats running across employees’ feet. Bed bugs returning after fumigation. Coworkers climbing onto desks to avoid the floor. These are not merely unpleasant workplace stories. For f...

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Federal NDAs and Whistleblower Rights

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Reports that some federal employees in the Trump administration have been asked to sign broad nondisclosure agreements raise a serious but often misunderstood question: what can an...

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Chapter 75 Rights for Federal Employees

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A recent executive order reportedly removed civil service protections from an estimated 8,000 federal employees. That is serious, and affected employees should review the appendix ...

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Schedule Policy/Career Is No Longer Theoretical

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For months, federal employees have been watching the return of Schedule F under a new name: Schedule Policy/Career. On June 3, 2026, the President signed an executive order impleme...

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Forest Service VERA and VSIP: What Feds Should Know

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The Forest Service has reportedly put VERA and VSIP on the table for some employees as the agency moves hundreds of jobs to Salt Lake City. For Forest Service employees, this may f...

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Federal Science RIFs and Employee Rights

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When a federal science agency loses experienced employees, the public often hears the issue framed as “savings.” But the deeper question is whether the country is losing the instit...

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DOGE Whistleblower Retaliation and Federal Rights

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Dan Berulis, an IT staffer at the National Labor Relations Board, reportedly raised serious concerns that DOGE had accessed agency systems and moved sensitive data out. The agency ...

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Black Federal Workers and Civil Service Stability

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For many Black federal employees, recent layoffs and anti-DEI actions are not just policy developments. They feel like a warning sign about whether one of the country’s most reliab...

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Military Promotions and Merit Principles

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For federal employees watching the military’s senior ranks, the recent reporting on blocked officer promotions deserves careful attention. According to the transcript’s account of ...

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State Department RIFs and Diplomat Rights

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NBC News, citing the American Foreign Service Association, reports that roughly 2,000 career diplomats have been laid off or pushed into retirement in the past year, not including ...

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More ways to learn

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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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Mindfulness

Work Peacefully

Use practical mindfulness tools to create space between workplace pressure and the decision you make next.

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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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