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.
When a federal science agency loses experienced employees, the public often hears the issue framed as “savings.” But the deeper question is whether the country is losing the institutional memory that ...
The Trump administration’s proposal to dramatically expand the TSA Screening Partnership Program should get the attention of every federal employee—especially TSA officers. The program allows airports...
Much of the current advice to federal employees about OPM’s proposed reduction-in-force changes begins and ends with one point: download your performance appraisals. That is important, but it is incom...
A reduction in force (RIF) under federal law is supposed to eliminate positions—not simply replace the people who held them. That distinction matters. When an agency conducts a RIF and then quickly an...
Recent congressional testimony about the HHS workforce reductions raises a legally significant question: was this truly a reduction in force—or something else? Under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 35, agencies must...
Many federal employees assume that once a buyout is signed—whether through VERA, VSIP, or a DRP—that decision is final. In most cases, that assumption is correct. These agreements are designed to be b...
For federal employees challenging a Reduction in Force (RIF), the instinct is often to focus on the outcome—the job loss. But early MSPB litigation is rarely about that alone. Judges are zeroing in on...
The Office of Financial Research was created after the 2008 financial crisis for a specific reason: to identify threats building inside the financial system before they become national emergencies. Th...
The Army’s current “rebalancing process” places thousands of civilian employees in a difficult position: accept a reassignment—sometimes across the country—or face separation. With as little as two bu...
The State Department appears to be testing a model other agencies may soon copy. In July 2025, it carried out roughly 1,350 layoffs, including about 246 Foreign Service officers on domestic assignment...
Federal employees often experience policy changes one rule at a time. But sometimes the legal significance becomes clear only when multiple proposals are viewed together. Three recent rulemaking propo...
A recent federal court ruling offers an important reminder that even major personnel actions must comply with the rule of law. In a decision involving the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), a feder...
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