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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. OSC Retreats on Hatch Act Reforms, Reverting to the “Status Quo" 

On May 19, the Office of Special Counsel formally withdrew two high-profile 2024 advisory opinions that had expanded Hatch Act coverage to non-Senate-confirmed White House aides and barred contemporary political memorabilia in federal workplaces year-round. The new memorandum says those opinions “departed from long-standing precedent” and reinstates the pre-2024 rules, under which discipline of most political appointees again depends on presidential discretion and display bans apply only during active campaign periods. Ethics lawyers warn that the rollback weakens guardrails put in place after repeated violations by senior officials and could expose rank-and-file employees to selective enforcement while insulating political allies. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:

The OSC’s about-face revives the older reading of 5 U.S.C. §§ 7321-7326: campaign-related displays are forbidden only when both “on duty” and within the workplace during the election season. Career feds should still treat any partisan expression at work—even a coffee-mug slogan outside campaign months—as potentially risky, because individual agencies can impose stricter ethics rules. Non-career officials regain a procedural buffer: unless the President forwards a case to the MSPB, OSC can now do little more than notify the White House. Unions may lobby Congress to codify the rescinded reforms, but until then employees must rely on agency ethics offices for definitive guidance.

2. House Republicans Soften—But Don’t Scrap—Benefit-Cut Package  

Late Monday the House Rules Committee released a revised reconciliation bill that strips out the across-the-board increase of FERS contributions to 4.4 percent and delays both the “high-3-to-high-5” annuity switch and elimination of the FERS supplement until 2028. Carve-outs now shield law-enforcement and other mandatory-retirement cohorts, yet proposals to charge MSPB filing fees, force employees to trade civil-service tenure for lower pension costs, and audit FEHB eligibility stay intact. The measure passed the committee by a single vote and heads to the floor amid calls for still deeper cuts. Government Executive 

Legal Insight:

Because the bill rides the budget-reconciliation process, every surviving provision must clear the Senate’s Byrd-Rule test; purely policy-driven changes risk ejection unless the savings are clearly scored. Implementation would require new payroll coding to track dual FERS tiers, inviting impact-and-implementation bargaining and potential grievances over erroneous deductions. Grandfather clauses mean employees eligible for the supplement before January 1 2028 retain it, blunting takings-clause arguments but complicating class-action challenges. Those planning to retire in the next three years should document service dates and projected annuity components now in case grandfather status is disputed.

3. Fired Probationary Feds Move to Strike OSC’s Unsolicited Amicus Brief

Counsel for dozens of probationary employees terminated during this year’s mass firings asked the MSPB to reject an amicus brief the Office of Special Counsel filed without invitation, arguing OSC’s statutory authority to intervene unilaterally is limited to whistleblower matters. The contested brief asserts agencies have “very limited restrictions” when dismissing probationers, a position appellants say undermines their pending regulation-review petition. The motion underscores friction between OSC’s new leadership and advocates pressing the Board to declare the mass terminations unlawful. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:

If the Board concludes OSC acted without case, it could curtail similar policy briefs and reaffirm that 5 C.F.R. § 1203 lets MSPB—rather than OSC—police Government-wide regulations. A ruling for appellants could trigger reinstatement, back pay under the Back Pay Act, and other relief.

Mindful Moment of the Day: 

Green-Dot Gaze 

Locate one spot of greenery in your field of view—a potted plant, the tree outside the window, even the green in your agency’s logo—and let your eyes rest there for a full breath cycle. Vision researchers have shown that a ten-second gaze at organic shapes or the color green lowers pupil dilation and allows the sympathetic nervous system to idle down. In practice, auditors and analysts who punctuate long screen sessions with this “green-dot” ritual report fewer headaches and greater accuracy in late-afternoon edits, proving that restoration can happen right at the workstation.