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.
Listen to the podcastNews, rights, tools & learning
Federal Employee Resource Center
Search timely updates, plain-English explainers, practical guides, podcasts, and mindful-action resources. Start with the question you are trying to answer.
Schedule Policy/Career: What You Lose, What Survives
OPM's Schedule Policy/Career reclassification converted roughly 8,000 career federal positions last month into an at-will job category — and more than 50 members of Congress now sa...
A Quick Check-In for Federal Employees
Gallup’s new analysis confirms what many federal employees already felt in their bodies before they saw it in a headline: 2025 was not an ordinary hard year. Federal workers experi...
Federal Workforce Cuts and Schedule Policy/Career
Federal employees often ask what the rest of 2026 may hold for the civil service. Recent comments from senior administration officials offer a clearer picture—and they carry signif...
Federal Unions Challenge OPM’s “Loyalty Question” in Hiring
Three of the largest federal-employee unions—AFGE, AFSCME, and NAGE—just filed a 54-page lawsuit that could reshape the foundation of federal hiring. Their target: a new “loyalty q...
Deferred Resignations and the Hidden Toll on Federal Workers
A staggering 154,000 federal employees—nearly 7% of the civilian workforce—are being paid not to work. Known as deferred resignations, these arrangements remove employees from acti...
Will the Oyer Case Undermine Civil Service Protections?
A lesser-known legal challenge quietly gaining traction could have major implications for senior-level federal employees. In Oyer v. Department of Justice, DOJ argues that a longti...
What Federal Employees Should Know About Schedule G
Yesterday’s executive order unveiled Schedule G, a new employment category that could reshape the political staffing landscape across federal agencies. While it doesn’t directly im...
Proposed Bill Threatens Civil Service Protections
Congress is advancing legislation that, if passed, could drastically reshape federal employment as we know it. Tucked deep inside the sprawling proposal are two provisions—Sections...
OPM’s New Hiring Memo: Loyalty Tests, Legal Risks & Schedule F 2.0
The Hidden Agenda Behind OPM's New Hiring Memo
Federal employees are no strangers to shifting political winds—but a recent 19-page memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OP...
More ways to learn
Choose the format that helps you understand what is happening.
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.
Mindfulness
Work Peacefully
Use practical mindfulness tools to create space between workplace pressure and the decision you make next.
Explore mindfulness resourcesAbout 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 & LydiaThe Federal Employee Briefing
The important developments, without the all-day scroll.
Join 3,900+ federal employees getting sourced workforce news and practical next steps on weekdays. It is a free public-service resource from Southworth PC.