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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. Senate Report Warns Trump’s Inspector-General Purge is Chilling Oversight

A new report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released May 21, gathers sworn but anonymous statements from career staff in more than a dozen Offices of Inspector General. These employees describe a climate of intimidation since President Trump dismissed 19 IGs, citing budget and “alignment” concerns, and replaced them with Department of Government Efficiency appointees. Staff recount delayed or abandoned audits, shrinking head counts of up to 30 percent, and reluctance to flag waste for fear of reprisals. Committee Democrats say the firings jeopardize $175 billion in potential savings the ousted watchdogs had identified. Government Executive

Legal Insight:

Under the Inspector General Act, only the President can remove an IG, but must give 30 days’ notice with reasons to Congress; firing 19 in one stroke arguably violates the statute’s good-cause expectation and invites a separation-of-powers challenge. Career auditors retain Whistleblower Protection Act rights and may file OSC complaints if pressured to soften findings. The report’s documentation of chilled speech strengthens any future claim that mass IG terminations constitute a “prohibited personnel practice” under 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8).

2. Two Federal Judges Hand Unions Fresh Ammunition Against Trump’s Anti-Bargaining Order  

On May 21, U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves dismissed Treasury’s suit against the National Treasury Employees Union in Kentucky, ruling the government lacked standing to seek a pre-emptive blessing for March’s “national-security” order that strips collective-bargaining rights from most of the civil service. Hours later, Judge Paul Friedman in Washington asked the parties to propose a narrower injunction targeting agencies already ignoring existing contracts, signaling he may revive part of the union case despite an appellate stay. Together the rulings undermine the administration’s strategy of forum-shopping for declaratory judgments while quietly canceling dues and grievance procedures. Government Executive

Legal Insight:

Reeves’s opinion reiterates the position that Article III courts cannot adjudicate hypothetical future CBA disputes, forcing agencies to wait until they actually repudiate a contract—actions unions can challenge at FLRA or MSPB. Friedman’s order suggests the D.C. court will focus on concrete unilateral changes, a posture that could produce tailored injunctions surviving appellate review. For practitioners, this means documenting every instance of contract non-compliance; a single agency misstep could reopen nationwide relief. Agencies should also remember that even if the executive order ultimately stands, federal law still protects union representation during formal discussions, so managers risk unfair-labor-practice findings if they cut unions out too soon.

3. Probationary Employees See Wildly Different Outcomes as Agencies React to RIF Injunctions 

Federal News Network reports that after courts forced agencies to notify tens of thousands of probationary employees that their February firings were mass terminations—not performance based—the follow-up has diverged sharply. HUD re-fired roughly 300 probationers effective immediately, denying back pay, while IRS ordered many of its 7,000 affected workers to return on three-days’ notice to full-time, in-person duty. Other agencies remain in limbo, with Health and Human Services facing a Thursday deadline to prove it even sent the required notices. The disparate treatment underscores the logistical and legal chaos still unfolding three months after the government-wide purge. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:  

Agencies that re-fire employees without new misconduct or performance grounds risk violating 5 C.F.R. § 315.804’s “certification” requirement and could trigger Back Pay Act liability if the mass-termination injunction is upheld. Returning employees to pay status, as IRS did, arguably mitigates damages but raises questions about retroactive benefits and locality pay. Probationers should file “constructive adverse action” claims with MSPB within 30 days of any second dismissal, even though their usual appeal rights are limited, because the ongoing litigation may establish that the firings were de facto RIFs subject to chapter 35 procedures. We are ready to assist probationers with timely claims and they should feel free to contact us for a free consultation on whether we think we could help them. 

Mindful Moment of the Day: 

Breath Buffer for Clear Communication

Before any consequential email, meeting, or Teams chat, let three intentional breaths form a quiet moat around your next action. On the inhale, feel the physical contact points—chair, floor, keyboard—so the body, not the mind, sets the pace. On the exhale, allow the shoulders to drop and the jaw to soften; this signals the nervous system that it is safe to think instead of react. A final breath lengthens the timeline just enough for your intention to crystallize into language that serves both mission and morale. Veterans of this micro-ritual report fewer misunderstandings and a notable lightness in end-of-day debriefs.