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

OPM Cut a Third of Its Own Workforce — Here's What That Means for Your Benefits

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The agency that runs your retirement, your health insurance, and your federal HR records has cut its own staff by roughly a third since the end of 2024 — and a new government watch...

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Federal Retirement Backlog: Digital Filing Matters

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Federal employees nearing retirement received unusually encouraging news from OPM: retirement claims are being processed at a pace that, at least for now, is reducing a historicall...

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Forest Service VERA and VSIP: What Feds Should Know

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The Forest Service has reportedly put VERA and VSIP on the table for some employees as the agency moves hundreds of jobs to Salt Lake City. For Forest Service employees, this may f...

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OPM Retirement Backlog: What Feds Should Do Now

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Federal employees nearing retirement are facing a serious processing delay. OPM’s retirement backlog remains above 55,000 pending claims, more than three times higher than a year e...

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OPM Retirement Backlog and Federal Employee Delays

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Federal employees planning retirement often expect delays. What is harder to accept is a delay caused by the government reducing the very staff responsible for processing earned be...

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House Bill Could Cut FERS Supplement for DRP Retirees

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When Congress promises stability and then moves the goalposts, anxiety spikes—especially for federal employees who planned their exit down to the dollar. Last week a House budget d...

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House Bill Threatens Federal Pensions and Due Process

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Late last night, a House committee advanced legislation that could drastically change the financial future of federal employees. The bill—pitched as a $50 billion cost-cutting meas...

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About 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.

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