Skip to content

News, 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.

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

Forced Distribution Ratings and Federal Law

By

Federal employees across multiple agencies are hearing a new message about performance ratings: only a small percentage of employees can receive the highest ratings. At first glanc...

Read Resource
 

Proposed OPM Rule Could Replace Seniority in RIFs

By

Federal employees have long understood one principle about reductions in force (RIFs): years of service matter. Seniority has historically been a key factor protecting experienced ...

Read Resource
 

OPM RIF Appeal Rule: MSPB Rights at Risk

By

Federal employees facing a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) already carry enough uncertainty. A new proposed rule from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would fundamentally change h...

Read Resource
 

OPM’s Proposed Rule Could Strip Probationary Employees of MSPB Rights

By

Federal employees often hear that probation is “temporary vulnerability.” What is now on the table would turn that vulnerability into something far more permanent—and far more dang...

Read Resource
 

Are Forced Performance Rating Quotas Legal for Federal Employees?

By

Federal employees across agencies are hearing a troubling message at the end of the appraisal year: even strong performance won’t matter because only a small percentage of people c...

Read Resource
 

OPM’s New RIF Proposal: How Performance Ratings Could Cost You Your Job

By

Federal employees have long relied on a RIF system grounded in objective factors—tenure, veterans’ preference, and credible measures of service time. The new OPM proposal rewrites ...

Read Resource
 

Trump’s Proposed OPM Rules Could Gut Federal Job Protections

By

Federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) just previewed regulations that would mark one of the most sweeping rollbacks of civil service protections in decades. T...

Read Resource
 

New OPM Regulations Could Threaten Your Appeal Rights

By

A critical update is unfolding that every federal employee should be aware of. Recently, The Federal News Network obtained drafts of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) prop...

Read Resource
 

What Trump’s Memo on Suitability Means for the Federal Workforce

By

A recent memo by former President Trump—Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce—has raised serious questions and concerns in the federal community. While...

Read Resource

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.

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 podcast

Mindfulness

Work Peacefully

Use practical mindfulness tools to create space between workplace pressure and the decision you make next.

Explore mindfulness resources

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.

Meet Shaun & Lydia

The 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.

Get the Free Briefing