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 podcastNews, 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.
MSPB Cuts RIF, Probationary, and Suitability Appeals From Its Rules — Effective September 2
MSPB appeal rights for reduction-in-force, probationary-termination, and suitability cases change on September 2, 2026 — and the most important sentence in the rule that changes th...
September 2: OPM Starts Deciding Appeals About Its Own Rules
On September 2, 2026, three categories of federal employee appeals — reduction in force, probationary and trial period actions, and suitability actions — move out of the Merit Syst...
Before July 30: Three Things to Clean Up Under OPM’s New Suitability Rule
A new OPM suitability rule takes effect July 30, 2026, and it creates a second path for removing sitting federal employees that runs entirely outside the Chapter 75 adverse-action ...
Tax Debt Risks for Federal Employees Explained
Tax issues are not just a financial problem for federal employees—they can become a career issue. Under 5 C.F.R. Part 731, suitability determinations consider “willful failure to c...
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.
Mindfulness
Work Peacefully
Use practical mindfulness tools to create space between workplace pressure and the decision you make next.
Explore mindfulness resourcesAbout 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 & LydiaThe 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.