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Top Three News Stories:

1. VA Reinstates Mandatory Overtime to Clear a 200,000-Claim Benefits Backlog

The Veterans Benefits Administration will again require disability- and pension-claims staff to work extra hours after a 10-month pause, ordering 10 mandatory overtime hours by the end of May and up to 25 hours per month starting in June. Leaders say the step is essential to whittle down a backlog that still tops 201,000 claims, but union representatives warn the move—coming alongside return-to-office mandates and projected job cuts—risks accelerating burnout and attrition. VA officials insist the mandate is temporary and justified by workload metrics showing sluggish processing times despite record hiring under the PACT Act. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:

Title 5 employees compelled to work ordered overtime must receive time-and-a-half pay or compensatory time; sustained failure to credit hours correctly can trigger Fair Labor Standards Act grievances and Back Pay Act claims. Because overtime affects conditions of employment, AFGE and other unions may demand bargaining over implementation details under 5 U.S.C. § 7106(b)(1) and could pursue unfair-labor-practice charges if VA bypasses them. Employees with caregiving duties or medical restrictions can seek reasonable accommodations or schedule modifications under the Rehabilitation Act. Persistent mandatory overtime has also factored into constructive-overtime and hostile-work-environment allegations when tied to protected activity, so supervisors should document workload assignments carefully.  

2. Labor Department to Gut the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs—90 % of Staff Set for Layoff 

On May 6 the Labor Department issued 30-day RIF notices that will shrink OFCCP from roughly 485 employees to about 50, after earlier placing much of its workforce on paid administrative leave. Investigations into federal-contractor discrimination complaints are largely frozen, leaving hundreds of veterans’ and disability-rights cases in limbo while contractors, complainants, and investigators await guidance. Officials say the cuts align the agency with the Trump administration’s rollback of Executive Order 11246 and its emphasis on “bringing OFCCP into constitutional bounds,” but employees and AFGE leaders describe “chaos and confusion” for victims and contractors alike. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:

A 90 % reduction at a statutory enforcement agency invites challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act and, potentially, the Equal Protection Clause if enforcement diminishes only for certain protected groups. Unions have already alleged the department violated the law by providing less than 60 days’ notice and bypassing required bargaining—grounds for grievance or injunction. Contractors may also face uncertainty over compliance certifications tied to ongoing but stalled audits, raising bid-protest risk if awards proceed without OFCCP clearance. For employees swept up in the RIF, Merit Systems Protection Board appeals remain available.  

3. FTC Chair Tells Congress He Can Slash Staff by 10 % and Still Pursue Big-Tech Cases

Testifying on May 15, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the commission can meet its antitrust and consumer-protection mission with about 1,100 employees—its smallest workforce in a decade—by curbing rule-making, reducing contract spending, and relying on in-house expertise rather than pricey expert witnesses. Ferguson noted that 94 staff have already departed in 2025 and that buyouts, not a formal RIF, are the preferred tool; two Department of Government Efficiency analysts are helping identify savings. Lawmakers questioned whether downsizing could hamper high-profile cases against Meta and Amazon and whether DOGE personnel might obtain confidential merger data; Ferguson pledged confidentiality safeguards apply equally to DOGE detailees. Reuters

Legal Insight:

Agency-initiated buyouts must comply with the law and OPM’s Voluntary Separation Incentive regulations, including workforce-reshaping plans filed in advance; employees accepting incentives face five-year re-employment bans absent waiver. If budget pressures later force an involuntary RIF, competitive-service employees retain retreat and bump rights under 5 C.F.R. Part 351, while excepted-service staff do not—heightening Schedule F concerns. Any sharing of protected business information with DOGE personnel who also work for Elon Musk-affiliated entities could create conflicts of interest and potential Trade Secrets Act exposure. Finally, resource cuts that demonstrably impair enforcement could be cited by merger defendants to argue the FTC lacks capacity for timely review, an unintended consequence that may bolster motions to dismiss or stay proceedings.

Mindful Moment of the Day: 

Inbox Curfew Check 

Before opening email after normal duty hours, place the phone facedown and ask, “Will reading this now serve tomorrow’s mission better than honoring tonight’s recovery?” That single reflective beat creates a micro-boundary that many federal professionals credit with restoring evening bandwidth for family, sleep, or quiet study. Sleep-science data confirm that avoiding late-night work alerts prevents the cortisol spike that can keep the prefrontal cortex in a dim-lit standby mode well past midnight. By saving non-urgent communications for morning, you arrive clearer, quicker, and kinder—qualities that ripple through the whole team’s morale.