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Civil Rights for Civil Servants
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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...
HUD Telework Ruling: What Federal Employees Should Know
For many federal employees, telework has long been treated as a workplace benefit—something flexible, even temporary. But the recent arbitration decision involving HUD reframes tha...
Telework Accommodation and Disability-Based Commute Barriers
When a supervisor says, “Commuting isn’t our problem,” it can feel like the door just slammed shut. But in federal disability law, the real question is more nuanced. A long or unpl...
AFGE Wins HUD Telework Arbitration Case
Federal employees received significant news this week: AFGE Council 222 secured a class-wide arbitration win requiring HUD to restore routine telework agreements that were rolled b...
HHS Telework Order Blocked by Arbitration Ruling
Federal employees received a notable reality check this week: a presidential return-to-office memo does not automatically override negotiated union contracts. In a significant arbi...
When Disability Accommodations Stall: Your Rights Under the Rehab Act
For many federal employees, “Your accommodation is pending—come in or burn leave” has become an unwelcome refrain. With reporting that CDC has over 3,300 requests stuck in limbo as...
Understanding Telework as Reasonable Accommodation
For federal employees with medical conditions, few questions come up more often than this: Can telework be a reasonable accommodation? The answer is sometimes yes—but only when it ...
CDC Paused Disability Telework Approvals, Then Hit Hold After Pushback
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it was pausing approvals—and even renewals—of telework as a disability accommodation. The agency poin...
Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation: What You Need to Know
Overnight reports suggest that the CDC told employees with disabilities that telework would no longer be considered a reasonable accommodation. If accurate, that directive is more ...
New OPM Telework Guidance Strengthens Religious and Medical Accommodation Rights
For federal employees navigating the return-to-office push, a quiet but powerful shift just occurred. Thanks to new guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and a piv...
Federal RIF Injunction: What GS‑9+ Employees Should Know
On May 22, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston converted a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction that blocks 21 federal agencies from issuing or finalizing Reduct...
When Forced Office Returns Backfire—FDA’s Telework Reversal
If you've been feeling the pressure of being forced back into the office—or if your reasonable accommodation (RA) request for telework has been denied or delayed—take a deep breath...
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