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

The MSPB Deleted "Independent" From Its Website. Here's What Actually Changed for Your Case.

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This week, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) quietly deleted the word "independent" from its website, its LinkedIn page, and even a job posting — and the change is raising ...

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What Federal Employees Still Legally Keep: Chapter 75, Whistleblower, and EEO Rights

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After a year of reclassifications, proposed rule changes, and reduction-in-force notices, it can feel like federal employees have lost every protection Congress ever gave them. Tha...

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Federal Discipline Without the Douglas Factors: What a New OPM-MSPB Rule Would Change

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A new joint proposal from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) would retire the Douglas factors, the 45-year-old framework that ha...

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DOGE Is Dead. The Damage to the Federal Workforce Isn't.

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DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — officially shut down on July 4, but the damage to the federal workforce it leaves behind is only now coming into focus. When Congre...

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Federal Court Blocks FLRA From Stripping Career Staff of Union Election Authority

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For once, the news out of the Federal Labor Relations Authority is good for federal employees and their unions.

Background: More Than 40 Years of Career Oversight

Since 1983, car...

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What Trump v. Slaughter Means for Federal Employees: The Supreme Court Expands Presidential Removal Power

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If it feels like the ground keeps shifting under your feet as a federal employee, the Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. Slaughter is one more reason why. This case involved the ...

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Education Department IG Report: RIF Cuts May Have Left Legally Required Work Unstaffed

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A new Inspector General report on the Department of Education's rapid workforce reduction reveals something more troubling than headline job-loss numbers: staffing cuts may have el...

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The Required Federal Employee Survey Vanished the Year 317,000 Feds Left. Congress Wants Answers.

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In 2025, roughly 317,000 employees left the federal government. The federal workforce shrank by more than ten percent. And the one survey the government is legally required to run ...

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Black Women’s Leadership in Federal Service

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The history of Black women in federal service is not simply a story about access. It is a story about leadership built under pressure. For generations, Black women worked at high r...

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Public Trust in Federal Employees Is Rising

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After a year of uncertainty, criticism, reorganizations, and shifting workplace rules, federal employees received something rare: encouraging data. According to recent polling desc...

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Federal Workers Are Not the Villains

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A new peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law gives federal employees language for something many have already felt in their bodies: the current att...

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Federal Employees Deserve Recognition Without Fear

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The Service to America Medals—the “Sammies”—have long been treated as the Oscars of federal service. This year’s 25th annual ceremony carried a quieter message: many federal employ...

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Shaun Southworth & Lydia Taylor

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