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Civil Rights for Civil Servants
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HHS Loses Telework Appeal: FLRA Says a Return-to-Office Memo Can't Override Your Union Contract
The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has denied every exception HHS raised to an arbitration award that ordered the agency to rescind its return-to-office directive and rei...
Forced Federal Relocations Were Sold as Savings. The Receipts Show Millions in Costs.
This summer's forced federal employee relocations were presented as cost-cutting, but public records gathered by NPR show the government is still paying millions of dollars a year ...
Arbitrator Finds USDA Repudiated Its Telework Contract: What It Means for Your CBA
A USDA telework arbitration award issued on August 19 did more than find a contract violation — the arbitrator wrote that the Agriculture Department’s conduct “amounted to a repudi...
OPM's Return-to-Office Director Filmed His Own Video From Home
Federal telework policy produced an uncomfortable moment this week: the OPM Director leading the government-wide return-to-office push acknowledged, on audio reported by Fortune, t...
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...
Arbitrator Orders Forest Service to Restore Telework for 20,000 Employees
An arbitrator has ordered the U.S. Forest Service to restore telework and remote work agreements for close to 20,000 employees represented by the National Federation of Federal Emp...
Telework Contracts Can Beat RTO Memos
Federal employees facing return-to-office directives should understand a central point from the recent USPTO telework arbitration: a presidential memorandum may set policy goals, b...
Federal RTO Monitoring and Employee Rights
Federal employees should pay close attention when an agency describes a monitoring tool as an office-space solution while the contract language points to “continuous compliance mon...
Federal Telework and Rising Gas Costs
Federal employees are being asked to absorb a commute shock that is not just inconvenient—it is financially destabilizing. Recent reports place the national average for regular gas...
Federal Employee Surveillance and RTO Compliance
Federal employees are used to workplace rules changing. But the reported use of Palantir technology to track USDA employees entering and leaving the office signals something more s...
Return-to-Office Is Not Just a Commute Issue
For many federal employees, return-to-office has not felt like a neutral management preference. It has felt like a disruption to work, family obligations, health routines, and mora...
Telework Accommodations Still Apply Under RTO Memos
Federal employees are being told a familiar story: “Leadership says return-to-office, so telework accommodations are over.” That framing is legally risky—and often a sign the agenc...
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