The Federal Employee Survival Blog

Cut through the jargon and get the clarity you need to stay a step ahead of agency politics. Each article unpacks new policy shifts, court rulings, and workplace trends, then turns them into actionable tactics—so you can head off discipline, invoke EEO or whistleblower protections with confidence, and keep your documentation airtight. We also archive our most popular social-media explainer threads here, giving you the same insights followed by more than 150,000 people online even if you never scroll on those sites. Read, prepare, and keep your federal career firmly in your control.

 
VA Cuts “Vacant” Jobs: Why Staff Feel the Impact Anyway federal employment mindfulness at work mspb appeals va employees workforce reductions Dec 15, 2025

For many VA employees, being told “it’s not layoffs, it’s just vacancies” does not feel reassuring. When teams are already stretched thin, vacant positions represent hope: reinforcements, backfill, an...

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Federal HR 2.0: Why Your Records Matter More Than Ever federal employee rights federal employment hr records mspb appeals opm policy Dec 15, 2025

Federal employees know the frustration of being told, “The system says…,” even when personal paperwork clearly shows something different. That moment—when a computer record outweighs reality—isn’t jus...

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MSPB Certifies Rare Class Appeals for HUD and OPM Probationary Firings federal employee rights federal employment mspb appeals probationary employees reduction in force Dec 12, 2025

For many federal employees, being labeled “probationary” has long felt like being disposable. February 2025 seemed to confirm that fear when HUD and OPM terminated hundreds of probationary and trial-p...

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Can Congress Restore Federal Union Rights in 2025? collective bargaining executive orders federal employment federal unions mspb appeals Dec 12, 2025

Federal employees across several agencies felt the shift almost immediately this year: bargaining tables went quiet, contracts suddenly felt fragile, and management decisions began landing as announce...

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How OPM’s Push for Forced Distribution Could Impact Your Federal Career federal employment mindfulness at work mspb appeals opm policy performance ratings Dec 10, 2025

OPM’s recent announcement that it wants to “normalize” agency performance ratings should get every GS-9 and above employee’s attention. Behind the technical language is a major shift: capping how many...

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Federal Workers and the New Management Agenda: What It Really Signals federal employment mindfulness at work mspb appeals performance management workforce restructuring Dec 09, 2025

Every federal employee eventually asks the same quiet question: Is this it, or is more change coming? The newly released President’s Management Agenda — a brief two-page document — provides a surprisi...

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Supreme Court Signals Shift on Independent Agencies agency independence civil service rights federal employment mspb appeals supreme court Dec 09, 2025

When the Supreme Court devotes nearly two hours to questioning whether the President can fire leaders of “independent” agencies at will, federal employees should take notice. The arguments in Trump v....

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Presidential Removal Power and What It Means for MSPB Independence civil service protections federal employment mindfulness at work mspb appeals presidential removal power Dec 08, 2025

A divided D.C. Circuit decision on Friday did something federal employees can’t afford to overlook: it upheld the president’s ability to fire members of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and t...

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Presidential Removal Power: What Today’s Supreme Court Case Means for Feds agency independence civil service protections federal employment mspb appeals supreme court Dec 08, 2025

or many federal employees, the fear sits quietly beneath the usual stressors: Could a president fire people simply for not falling in line? Today’s Supreme Court arguments bring that question into sha...

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Judge Halts State Department RIFs: What Federal Employees Need to Know civil service protections federal employment mspb appeals rif workplace mindfulness Dec 05, 2025

Hundreds of State Department employees woke up on December 5 believing it was their final day in federal service. Overnight, that story changed. A federal judge issued an emergency order blocking thos...

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FEMA Whistleblowers and the Red Flags of Retaliation federal employment mindfulness at work mspb appeals osc whistleblower retaliation Dec 04, 2025

When fourteen FEMA whistleblowers were reinstated in the morning and removed again by the afternoon—right after national reporting embarrassed DHS—many federal employees saw something familiar. Not ju...

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Alleged DEI “Purges” and What Fell v. Trump Means for Federal Employees civil service protections dei federal employment mspb appeals rif rights Dec 04, 2025

A new class action, Fell v. Trump, alleges something no federal employee should take lightly: that the administration directed agencies to identify, isolate, and remove anyone linked to diversity, equ...

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