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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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Telework Accommodation and Disability-Based Commute Barriers
When a supervisor says, “Commuting isn’t our problem,” it can feel like the door just slammed shut. But in federal disability law, the real question is more nuanced. A long or unpl...
Are EEOC and MSPB Still Fair for Feds?
Lately, many federal employees have been asking the same question: Is the system already decided? With nonstop headlines about politics and the courts, it can feel like filing an E...
Managing Federal Workplace Anxiety Before Discipline
For many GS-9 and above federal employees, the body reacts to a calendar invite or HR/LR email before the mind has processed a single word. Chest tightens. Jaw clenches. Thoughts j...
OPM Union Contract Terminations: What Feds Must Know
If you are a bargaining unit employee who relies on your union for discipline defense or grievance protection, recent guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) deserve...
DHS Shutdown: Protect Your Pay and Record
A partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security is not abstract politics. For many federal employees, it means reporting to work without pay or being sent home with uncer...
RIFs May Restart After Feb. 13: What Feds Should Do Now
Federal employees received a temporary reprieve when Congress restricted agencies from using appropriated funds to initiate or carry out new reductions in force (RIFs). That restri...
OPM RIF Appeal Rule: MSPB Rights at Risk
Federal employees facing a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) already carry enough uncertainty. A new proposed rule from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would fundamentally change h...
OPM’s Proposed “RIF Appeals” Rule Would Strip MSPB Review and Concentrate Power Inside OPM — Comment Now
OPM just published a proposed rule titled “Reduction in Force Appeals” (RIN 3206–AO99) that would take most Reduction-in-Force (RIF) appeal rights away from the Merit Systems Prote...
Schedule Policy/Career: Which Federal Jobs Are at Risk
The Office of Personnel Management has finalized a new rule creating Schedule Policy/Career, a classification aimed at “policy-influencing” positions. The government’s own estimate...
Schedule Policy/Career: How Civil Service Protections Could Change
Federal employees are waking up to a significant shift in the civil service landscape. Reporting indicates that OPM is expected to finalize a rule creating a new classification—oft...
Congress Quietly Extended RIF Protections—Here’s What That Means
Federal employees are hearing a lot of noise about layoffs—and most of it misses a critical development. Even though the recent shutdown has ended, Congress quietly extended a key ...
OPM Back Pay Guidance Changes and a New Bill That Could Fix It
Federal employees may feel relief that the recent shutdown ended, but a quiet change by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) deserves attention. OPM recently removed language f...
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