Brought to you by Southworth PC—Attorneys for Federal Employees

Our online community now tops 150,000 federal workers and supporters across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Each briefing distills the day’s most consequential developments, adds clear-eyed legal analysis, and pairs it with mindfulness tools that keep you steady no matter how turbulent the news cycle becomes. If this newsletter helps you stay informed, please pass it on: https://fedlegalhelp.com/newsletter. Your advocacy broadens the protective circle for every federal employee.

Top Three News Stories:

1. Judge blocks State Department plan to lay off 2,000 employees

 U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s proposal to eliminate roughly 2,000 positions and reorganize more than 300 offices violates her May nationwide injunction against Trump-era mass reductions-in-force. Illston’s order bars the Department from issuing any RIF notices unless it first obtains permission from the court. The Justice Department has already asked the Supreme Court for emergency relief, but notices scheduled for later this month are now on hold. Anews

Legal Insight:

The order makes clear that agency-specific “re-org” claims will not defeat a broad injunction. State-Department employees who received informal warnings or “mock” retention-register rankings should preserve them; if the government eventually issues notices while the injunction stands, those actions may be void and employees can seek Back Pay Act relief. Managers must also remember that violating a court order can trigger contempt sanctions and personal liability under 28 U.S.C. § 1927. Finally, the opinion signals that any stay request filed with the Supreme Court will face questions about irreparable harm—so agencies will need solid evidence, not just budget projections, to justify layoffs.

2. Senate plan would force future hires to pay up to 14.4 percent of pay for FERS—or give up due-process rights

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released its draft reconciliation bill. The bill drops House language that cut current employees’ pensions, but replaces it with a two-tier system for new hires: all would pay 9.4 percent of basic pay toward FERS (more than double today’s 4.4 percent rate), and anyone who elects to keep civil-service protections would pay an extra five percentage points, for a total of 14.4 percent. The draft also imposes a $350 filing fee for Merit Systems Protection Board appeals, adds a 10 percent surcharge on automatic union-dues deductions, and requires unions to pay market rent for any office space inside federal buildings. Employee groups warn that the higher contribution rate will make government jobs uncompetitive and could destabilize the FERS trust fund over time. GovExec

Legal Insight:

For employees who do enter at the 14.4 percent tier, the mismatch between contribution and benefit may support Fifth-Amendment “takings” or equal-protection claims, similar to litigation filed over the 2013 and 2014 rate hikes. The bill’s $350 MSPB fee conflicts with 5 U.S.C. § 7701(b), which requires MSPB access “without regard to pay or amount in controversy,” and would likely be challenged under the First Amendment’s petition clause. Current employees’ rates stay unchanged, but agencies will have to revise job offers, payroll systems, and actuarial assumptions within weeks of enactment, so HR offices should begin contingency planning now.

3. Department of Veterans Affairs cancels 15 percent Special Salary Rate for nearly 10,000 HR employees

In a June 11 memorandum, VA Assistant Secretary for Human Resources Mark Engelbaum announced that the 2023 Special Salary Rate (SSR) and Critical Skills Incentive for HR specialists (GS-0201) and HR assistants (GS-0203) will end with the last FY 2025 pay period on October 4, 2025. The SSR, authorized under the PACT Act, had boosted pay by roughly 15 percent to attract talent while VA expanded benefits for toxic-exposed veterans. VA’s review found vacancies and turnover have eased, prompting management to declare the incentive “no longer necessary.” About 9,600 employees are currently covered; future hires will enter at normal General Schedule rates. VA would not say whether similar tech-workforce SSRs will also be rescinded. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:

When a Special Salary Rate is abolished, VA must likely convert each employee to the regular GS base-plus-locality schedule at the same grade and step under 5 C.F.R. 530.304 many will argue; only if that new rate falls below the former SSR does pay-retention kick in under 5 U.S.C. § 5363 and 5 C.F.R. part 536. Management’s duty to bargain with unions is limited to impact-and-implementation proposals, since ending a discretionary SSR is likely a reserved management right. Newly hired HR employees have no legal claim to the old SSR, so any recruitment shortfall is a policy, not a litigation, issue.

Mindful Moment of the Day: 

“Three-Breath Transition” Between Teams Calls

Back-to-back virtual meetings leave attention residue that blurs issues and drains credibility. The antidote is fifteen seconds: mute, close your eyes, inhale to the silent word “arrive,” exhale to “engage,” and repeat for three full breaths. NIH imaging studies show this micro-reset reactivates the anterior cingulate cortex—the brain’s task-switching hub—restoring up to forty percent of lost focus. When the next meeting starts, statutes surface faster, questions land cleaner, and colleagues feel the difference even through a headset.