Attorneys for Federal Employees — Nationwide

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Today at a Glance

• The Army Is Forcing Civilians to Accept Reassignments — Including Non-Local Moves — Or Face Separation: A new Army "rebalancing" program is giving surplus civilian employees five days to accept management-directed reassignments, including to different geographic locations. Employees who decline are offered a VERA or VSIP — but with a gun to their head. One employee called it "a RIF by another name."
• Treasury Is About to RIF the Federal Office Created to Prevent the Next Financial Crisis: The Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research — created by Congress after the 2008 financial collapse to monitor systemic risk — has already lost more than half its workforce and is now preparing formal RIF notices. Employees say the goal is to make sure nobody is watching.
• OPM Launches an Early-Career Talent Network — Months After Firing Most of the Young Employees It Is Now Trying to Recruit Back: The new portal targets younger workers in five job categories. Experts note the administration faces a credibility problem: it spent 2025 firing the exact demographic it is now trying to attract.

Top Stories:

1. The Army Is Calling RIFs "Rebalancing" — And Giving Employees Five Days to Accept Reassignments or Face Separation

Source: Federal News Network — March 28, 2026

TL;DR: The Army has launched what it is calling a "rebalancing" program that identifies surplus civilian employees and requires them to accept management-directed reassignments — including non-local moves — or be offered a VERA or VSIP. Employees who decline the reassignment are treated as having accepted the separation offer. One Army employee told Federal News Network that this amounts to a "RIF by another name," designed to avoid the 60-day notice requirements and congressional visibility of a formal reduction in force. Employees are being given as few as five days to make decisions about relocating their families. The Army reduced its civilian workforce by about 16,000 employees through two rounds of the deferred resignation program and has not disclosed how many employees have been identified as surplus in the current rebalancing effort.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are an Army civilian and you have received a notice identifying you as a surplus employee or offering you a management-directed reassignment, the framing matters less than the legal reality. What you are being asked to do — accept a reassignment or separate — is a personnel action with significant legal implications regardless of what the agency calls it.
• A management-directed reassignment to a different geographic location is a significant change in working conditions. If declining that reassignment results in your separation, the question of whether that separation was truly voluntary is legally meaningful.
• The Army memo states that employees who decline can be offered retraining or a lower-grade position. Accepting a lower grade — even voluntarily, to avoid separation — can affect your retirement computation, your pay, and your career trajectory in ways that deserve careful analysis before you sign anything.

Legal Insight:
Under 5 C.F.R. Part 351, a formal reduction in force requires 60 days' advance notice, specific retention standing calculations based on tenure, veterans preference, and performance, and the right to appeal to the MSPB. A management-directed reassignment does not carry those same procedural protections — which is exactly why characterizing a workforce reduction as a "rebalancing" is strategically useful to the agency. If you are an Army civilian who has received a surplus notice or reassignment offer, do not assume the agency's characterization of the action is the legally controlling one. Document everything. Clarify in writing what happens if you decline. And because the timeline you are being given is almost certainly shorter than what a formal RIF would require, consider talking with your union and a qualified federal employment attorney before the clock runs out.

2. Treasury Is RIF-ing the Office Congress Created After the 2008 Financial Crisis to Watch for the Next One

Source: Government Executive — March 27, 2026

TL;DR: The Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research — created by Congress through the Dodd-Frank Act after the 2008 financial crisis specifically to collect data and analyze systemic risks to the financial system — began the Trump administration with 196 employees. It now has approximately 100 and is preparing formal RIF notices that will bring it down to roughly 70, a total reduction of about 64% since last January. OFR is funded by fees on large financial institutions, meaning the cuts do not contribute to deficit reduction. Employees say the data team has already been reduced to a handful of people, and the office's ability to publish analysis of systemic financial risk has been severely curtailed. One employee said the goal is to ensure "nobody is watching."

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are an OFR employee who has received a RIF notice or expects one, you have specific statutory and regulatory rights that attach the moment you receive formal notification. The 60-day notice period begins running from the date of official notice. You have the right to appeal a RIF to the MSPB within 30 days of the effective date of your separation.
• OFR is a small, highly specialized agency. Employees displaced from a RIF at OFR may have difficulty identifying positions they are qualified for across government — particularly given the administration's posture toward financial oversight work. Your right to a RIF appeal does not require you to have a new position lined up.
• If you took the deferred resignation program at OFR and are still in your administrative leave period, confirm in writing your exact separation date and what, if anything, changes to your benefits and retirement credits if the office is substantially restructured before your separation becomes effective.

Legal Insight:
In a formal RIF, agencies must calculate each employee's retention standing based on four factors — tenure of employment, veterans preference, length of service, and performance ratings. Employees must be given 60 days' advance written notice. Within that notice period, employees are entitled to review the retention register and challenge errors in their standing. Employees separated in a RIF have the right to appeal to the MSPB within 30 days of the effective date of the action, and in some circumstances have priority reemployment rights for up to two years. Because RIF appeals have strict timelines and because errors in retention standing calculations are not uncommon — particularly in agencies undergoing rapid restructuring — consider talking with your union and a qualified federal employment attorney as soon as you receive a formal RIF notice.

3. OPM Launches an Early-Career Talent Network — Months After Firing Most of the Young Federal Employees It Now Wants to Recruit

Source: Federal News Network — March 30, 2026

TL;DR: OPM on Monday launched a new "early-career talent network" — an online portal aimed at connecting younger job seekers with federal opportunities in five fields: human resources, finance, technology, project management, and contracting. OPM Director Scott Kupor called it "audacious." Federal workforce experts called it necessary but noted a significant credibility problem: since Trump took office, the share of federal employees under 30 has declined from 9% to 8%, disproportionately driven by last year's probationary terminations that pushed most of the government's recent hires out the door. The Presidential Management Fellows program — one of the primary pipelines for early-career talent — has been shuttered. Experts say the government has a long way to go before younger workers trust it as an employer again.

For federal employees, this means:

• If you are a former probationary employee who was terminated last year and is now being told the government is hiring again, that whiplash is real and your skepticism is reasonable. The same administration that fired you is now asking you to come back.
• If you are a current federal employee in a hiring or HR role, you may soon be asked to implement this new recruitment initiative while simultaneously managing workforce reductions. That tension is worth naming internally.
• If you are a younger federal employee who survived the probationary purges and the deferred resignation program, you may have more institutional knowledge and organizational value than you realize right now — precisely because so many of your peers left.

Legal Insight:
Former probationary employees who were terminated in 2025 have had varying outcomes in court depending on their agency, the timing of their termination, and how the termination was characterized. If you were terminated during your probationary period and have not yet explored whether you have any remaining legal options — including appeals of OPM-directed terminations to the MSPB, or EEO claims if the termination was discriminatory — the time to have that conversation is now, not later.

Mindful Moment of the Day

Protecting Focus with Mindful Calendar Blocks

Outlook can run your day if you let every meeting invite and email dictate your schedule. Pick one hour this week and block it on your calendar as quiet work time, even if you label it something simple like “project focus.” When that hour comes, close extra tabs, silence notifications, and take three breaths before you start the one task you chose. Treating that block as a promise to yourself trains others—and your own brain—to respect your need for focused attention. 

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