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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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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 ...
RIF'd From a Federal Job? Two Reemployment Rights You Already Have
A federal reduction in force doesn't just end with your last day — for many employees, it opens rights that already exist under current law, whether or not Congress ever acts on th...
The CFPB Layoff Freeze Held — But the D.C. Circuit Did More Than Headlines Are Saying
The headlines say the federal appeals court kept the CFPB layoff freeze in place. That part is accurate. But the D.C. Circuit did more than that — and the part most reporting has g...
Hundreds of ODNI Jobs Are on the Line — What Intelligence Community Employees Need to Know About Their Rights
The office Congress built after the September 11 attacks to prevent the next intelligence failure is being downsized again — and this time, faster.
ODNI's own website now lists Bi...
FEHB Medical Records and OPM Privacy Risks
Federal employees are right to ask careful questions when the agency that oversees their health benefits seeks access to detailed medical claims data. The issue now surrounding the...
Public Doubts Federal Cuts Improved Efficiency
Federal employees have spent the past year absorbing reductions, reorganizations, removals, and shifting workplace expectations—all often justified in the name of making government...
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