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

Targeted Restructuring in the Federal Workforce:

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For decades, the federal government has offered Black professionals a rare foundation of career stability, growth, and retirement security. Today, that legacy is under threat. Deep...

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Federal RIF Injunction: What GS‑9+ Employees Should Know

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On May 22, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston converted a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction that blocks 21 federal agencies from issuing or finalizing Reduct...

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Supreme Court Stay Imperils MSPB & NLRB Autonomy

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On May 22, the Supreme Court issued a late-night order allowing President Trump to remove the heads of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and National Labor Relations Board ...

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A Federal RIF Freeze: What the Latest Court Ruling Means

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Federal employees, especially those recently impacted by Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, received a powerful message this week: the law still protects your job. In a pivotal hear...

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Federal Court Blocks Plan to Dismantle Department of Education

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A major development has just rocked the federal employment landscape: a U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction blocking a recent executive order aimed at dismantling ...

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How to Appeal a Federal RIF to the MSPB

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If you’ve received a Reduction in Force (RIF) notice, you’re likely navigating shock, anxiety, and an avalanche of questions. As a federal employee, the stakes are high—your pensio...

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Watchdog Firings and the Real Cost of “Savings” at Your Agency

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When federal employees hear about massive government savings—like the $170 billion touted by DOGE —it sounds promising. But if you’re a career fed, especially GS-9 and above, here’...

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Two Federal Rulings Halt Trump's Anti-Union Order—For Now

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In a major turn for federal employees, two court rulings have temporarily stalled the Trump administration’s efforts to strip away collective bargaining rights from large portions ...

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How Defunding DEI Threatens America’s Scientific Future

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When a high-level federal official with no scientific training calls diversity “an existential threat to research,” federal employees should take note—not just for what it signals ...

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When “Doing More with Less” Becomes a Dangerous Illusion

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Federal employees have long faced the myth that service improves when agencies are “streamlined.” But recent testimony from agency leaders to Congress suggests a deeper problem: a ...

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When FEMA Is Gutted, Everyone Feels the Storm

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Imagine a Category 4 hurricane charging toward the coast—but this time, FEMA isn’t fully staffed, trained, or funded. That’s no longer hypothetical. In the wake of the Trump admini...

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How to Stay Grounded After a Federal Layoff or Suspension

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When layoffs or removals hit the federal workforce, the damage runs deeper than numbers. These are lives interrupted—mothers, veterans, researchers—cut adrift often with little war...

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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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