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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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Petty Friday: Who Is Andrea Lucas? The EEOC's Chair — and Its Most Effective Opponent
It’s Petty Friday — our weekly commentary for federal employees, where we take the week’s civil rights news with a little humor and a lot of receipts. This week: Andrea Lucas, the ...
Five Changes in the EEOC's Proposed Rule That Matter for Your Federal EEO Case
The EEOC’s proposed rule would demand more detail in your federal EEO complaint before the investigation — and take away your current choice to put the case before an EEOC judge. H...
150 Pages, 30 Days: The EEOC Motion for More Comment Time That Couldn't Get a Second
The EEOC has proposed a 150-page rewrite of the federal EEO complaint process — and federal employees will get just 30 days to comment on it. At the Commission’s meeting, a motion ...
EEOC Proposal: The Agency You Accuse Would Decide Your Discrimination Case First
The EEOC has proposed a major change to the federal EEO complaint process: under the new proposal, the agency you accuse of discrimination would ordinarily decide your case first —...
Needed, But Not Named: When a Federal Detail Ends After Your Identity Goes Public
Losing a federal detail after your identity becomes public is not a personnel technicality — it can be sex discrimination under Title VII, and federal employees are covered. The qu...
A Notice of Proposed Removal Is Not a Firing: It Starts a 30-Day Clock
A notice of proposed removal is not a firing. It is a clock starting — and the distance between those two things is where most of your leverage lives.
Proposed means proposed. You...
A Year After the CDC Shooting, Here Is What the Law Still Gives Federal Employees
Federal employees processing a traumatic event at work often assume the legal protections available to them ran out when the news coverage stopped. They did not. A year after a gun...
The IRS Restored Union Email for Managers and Left It Blocked for Bargaining Unit Employees
Your right to a union representative in a federal adverse action case is only as good as your ability to reach that representative — and at the IRS, Government Executive reports, t...
A FEMA Contractor Was Paid Through a DOGE Staffer's Company. Her Deposition Is Now Public.
The rule against using contracts for inherently governmental functions is one of the least discussed protections in the federal workplace, and a newly public deposition in the FEMA...
What Is a "Mixed Case"? The Federal Employment Term That Controls Your Deadline
If you're a federal employee facing a removal, demotion, or long suspension, and you believe discrimination played a role, the label "mixed case" isn't just legal jargon — it deter...
Return-to-Office Orders Are (Mostly) Legal — But Disability Accommodations Are a Different Story
A recent Federal News Network survey found that most federal employees say returning to the office has made them less productive — but for most workers, a return-to-office (RTO) or...
The MSPB Deleted "Independent" From Its Website. Here's What Actually Changed for Your Case.
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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