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Civil Rights for Civil Servants
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Judge Rules DHS Plan to Cut FEMA in Half Was Unlawful: What FEMA CORE Employees Need to Know
A federal judge has ruled that the DHS plan to cut FEMA in half was unlawful, delivering a major win for FEMA employees. On Friday, September 11, 2026, Judge Susan Illston of the U...
Your FY2026 Performance Rating Now Carries RIF Points: Four Moves to Make Before It Closes
Your FY2026 performance rating is worth RIF retention points now, and for many federal employees the appraisal period closes on September 30. Seven points: that is what a Level 5 r...
CDC Told Employees to Resend Accommodation Medical Records in 20 Days or Lose Their Case. Is That Legal?
Can your agency sit on your reasonable accommodation request for months, then tell you to resend your medical records in 20 days or lose your case and your interim accommodation? C...
Gender Delusion Disqualification Act: Would a Diagnosis Alone End a Federal Career?
Should a medical diagnosis, by itself, disqualify a federal employee from a job β regardless of that employee's record? That is the question raised by the Gender Delusion Disqualif...
Congress Funded a 3.8% Raise for Air Traffic Controllers. The FAA Is Withholding Most of It β Legally.
Air traffic controllers were promised a 3.8 percent pay raise in April, funded by Congress β and so far, the FAA has paid out just 1 percent. The remaining 2.8 percent is being hel...
HUD Filed a Reorganization Plan, Then Withdrew It: What It Means for Federal Employees and RIF Risk
The HUD reorganization plan that appeared on the Federal Register's public inspection list on September 4 β and disappeared the same day β has federal employees asking a familiar q...
The FBI Quietly Lowered Its Own Hiring Bar in June. The Standard for Rank-and-File Feds Did Not Move.
The FBI lowered its own hiring standards in a June 16, 2026 internal memo, according to CBS News, while the suitability and conduct standards applied to rank-and-file federal emplo...
Should Musk Testify Under Oath? Two House Democrats Ask After GAO Finds DOGE Savings of $92 Million, Not $10.5 Billion
Two House Democrats have asked for Elon Musk and DOGE officials to testify under oath about DOGE's savings numbers, after a GAO audit found that DHS's claimed $10.5 billion in cont...
D.C. Circuit: IRS Data-Sharing With ICE "Indisputably Contravenes" Federal Tax Privacy Law
The lawsuit filed to keep DOGE out of IRS taxpayer data just won at the D.C. Circuit. On September 8, 2026, a unanimous panel in Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS, No. 26-5006 (D.C...
Searched by Diagnosis Code: What the Pentagon's Medical Record Reviews Mean for Every Federal Employee's Confidential File
Federal employee medical privacy is suddenly a live question. Federal News Network reported this week that service members are being identified for separation through their electro...
USDA Says 64% Accepted Relocation. Employees Say the Accept Button Was Not a Choice.
USDA directed reassignments are back in federal court, and the number the department gave the judge is now in dispute. On August 28, a senior USDA official told the court that 725 ...
GAO Audit: DHS Claimed $10.5 Billion in DOGE Contract Savings. Auditors Found $92 Million.
A new GAO audit of DHS contract terminations has put a hard number on the DOGE savings claims that federal employees heard all year. The Department of Homeland Security publicly re...
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