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

Federal Employee NDAs and OSC Rights

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Federal employees are used to signing forms. Many are routine. But when a nondisclosure agreement reaches into whistleblower rights, every word matters. OPM’s newly proposed govern...

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Probationary Firings and Mental Health Fallout

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The numbers are stark: in a recent survey discussed by The Guardian, 95% of fired probationary federal employees reported ongoing mental-health effects months after losing their jo...

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IRS Details, Failed Training, and Discipline Risks

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The recent NOTUS reporting about the IRS raises a hard question for federal employees: what happens when workforce cuts create operational gaps, and the people left behind are blam...

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Schedule Policy/Career and Whistleblower Rights

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For federal employees moved into Schedule Policy/Career, the most important question is not simply whether protections still exist. It is whether those protections can be meaningfu...

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Black Federal Workers and the Fight for Access

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Federal employment is often described as one of the most reliable pathways into the middle class. For many Black families, that became true over time. But it is important not to mi...

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Schedule Policy/Career and Civil Service Protections

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President Trump’s June 3, 2026 executive order moving roughly 8,000 federal positions into Schedule Policy/Career has understandably drawn intense attention across the federal work...

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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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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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