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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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DHS Shutdown Pay Gap: Who’s Still Unpaid
A recent executive order redirected funds to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, delivering two missed paychecks to many employees. While that relief matters...
TSA Shutdown Pay Rights for Federal Employees
TSA officers are once again doing essential federal work without a current paycheck. Since the DHS-only shutdown began on February 14, officers classified as “excepted” have been l...
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...
Are Federal Employees Guaranteed Back Pay After the Shutdown?
Federal employees are asking the right question: “Are we really getting back pay this time?” The short answer is yes. Under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFT...
Shutdown Negotiations Resume: What Federal Workers Need to Know
There’s finally a hint of movement in Washington. As of Friday, October 24, 2025, two competing Senate bills—one from Senator Ron Johnson to pay “excepted” employees and the milita...
Are Furloughed Federal Employees Guaranteed Back Pay?
For many federal employees, this shutdown feels different. Early this week, the administration floated a new legal argument claiming that furloughed workers might not be automatica...
OMB Memo Challenges Federal Back Pay Guarantees
A draft legal opinion from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly testing the foundation federal employees have relied on for years: that you’ll receive back pay afte...
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