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

Ninety Seconds Before the Rules Change Again: A Monday Practice

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Federal employees are starting another week with headlines saying the rules changed again — and for a lot of people the shoulders are already up at the ears before the first cup of...

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Steady: A 90-Second Breathing Practice to Start Your Federal Work Week

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Workplace stress is not just an inconvenience for federal employees living through a year of hiring freezes, reorganizations, and reduction-in-force notices — it is a documented he...

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IRS Refund Delays and Enforcement Cuts Explained

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Federal employees are often asked to reconcile two competing narratives: what agency leadership reports to Congress and what unfolds inside the workplace. The IRS’s recent “home ru...

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Federal Employee Morale Decline: What You Can Do

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Recent data confirms what many federal employees have already been experiencing firsthand: a sharp decline in workplace well-being. Gallup reports that the percentage of federal em...

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DHS Shutdown Pay Gap: Who’s Still Unpaid

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A recent executive order redirected funds to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, delivering two missed paychecks to many employees. While that relief matters...

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Federal Workplace Stress: A Mindful Reset for Burnout

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A recent survey of more than 11,000 federal employees placed governmentwide engagement at just 32 out of 100. Even more concerning, only 22.5% of respondents reported feeling safe ...

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Why Federal Employees Need Rest During Uncertainty

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Federal employees are navigating one of the most uncertain periods in recent memory—agency changes, litigation, shifting policies, and real concerns about job security. In that env...

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Resilience for Federal Employees Beyond the Badge

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Federal employees are facing an unusual level of uncertainty. Policy changes, proposed rules, workplace restructuring, and shifting expectations can leave even seasoned GS-level pr...

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Why Federal Employees Feel on Edge—and How to Regain Clarity

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Federal employees are operating in an environment of sustained uncertainty. Shutdown risk, conflicting public narratives, and highly visible violence create a constant sense that c...

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Gratitude as a Legal and Mental Clarity Tool for Federal Employees

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Federal employees have spent the year navigating unprecedented disruption: DOGE rollouts, chaotic reorganizations, and constant uncertainty about missions, staffing, and the future...

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Returning After a 43-Day Shutdown: What Federal Employees Should Expect

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When a shutdown ends, most people assume the crisis is over. But for GS-9 and above federal employees—especially those handling audits, contracts, IT systems, compliance, or missio...

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OPM Just Killed the “Five Things” Email. Here’s Why That Matters.

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For months, federal employees were trapped in a Sunday-night ritual: condensing their entire workweek into five bullet points for leadership’s inbox. Born from a top-down directive...

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Civil Rights for Civil Servants

Hear Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor explain federal employee rights, public service, workplace systems, and the people navigating them.

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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.

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