Civil Service
Schedule F won’t fix government’s performance management problems, report finds
The Partnership for Public Service warned that, contrary to proponents’ claims, there is “no evidence” that at-will employment improves employee or agency performance.
Trump defends cutting nearly 300,000 feds from their ‘boring’ jobs
The president claimed without evidence that all federal workers forced out during his first year back were now in “better” jobs in factories making double or triple their government salary.
Let's play a drinking game
COMMENTARY | Americans' declining trust in government has been an oft-discussed trend for decades, but it turns out that it's neither unique to government nor Americans. So what is happening to institutional trust?
AFGE urges appellate judges to uphold injunction against Trump’s anti-union EOs
A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last summer blocked a lower court ruling that found President Trump violated federal employees’ First Amendment rights when it targeted two-thirds of the government workforce for removal of their collective bargaining rights.
Arbitrator: Trump’s union EOs violate ‘hierarchy of law’
Independent federal arbitrator Marvin Hill defied the Trump administration's demand that he dismiss an internal grievance against the Defense Department, remarking that to do so would require "re-writing" most legal textbooks.
The twists and turns of Trump’s 2025 war on unions
Since returning to office, the Trump administration has engaged in a series of efforts to sideline labor representatives within the federal government.
Supreme Court won’t halt judge’s probe into civil service laws’ virility, for now
The unsigned order, which prompted no public dissents, suggested the Trump administration could return to the high court if the federal district court’s factfinding mission commences before justices consider whether to formally take on the case.
Appellate judges mull challenge to Trump’s efforts to bust most federal labor unions
Much of the discussion in oral arguments for three separate lawsuits revolved around whether an administrative board could hear unions’ legal claims and whether President Trump used a faulty definition of 'national security' when he devised two executive orders banning unions at most federal agencies.
TSA plans to bust labor union despite court order blocking it
The Trump administration’s efforts to unwind collective bargaining for airport security screeners have been blocked since June, when a federal judge found the initiative was aimed at “punishing” the nation’s largest federal worker union.
FBI agents fired over 2020 protest actions sue for reinstatement
A dozen former FBI agents said their decision to kneel while responding to 2020 protests against police brutality was a tactical one, required as the result of the first Trump administration’s decision to deploy federal agents without crowd control equipment or training.
House strips its own provision protecting Defense civilians’ union rights from NDAA
A source familiar with congressional negotiations said that the bipartisan language effectively nullifying President Trump’s anti-union executive orders as they pertain to the Pentagon was dropped due to lack of support in the Senate.
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Ex-feds axed in DEI purge file class action suit
A group of four former federal employees described the mass reduction in force of those in purportedly “diversity”-related jobs as a means for the Trump administration to “punish perceived political enemies” and disproportionally targeting protected-class employees for dismissal.
DOJ says lower court ruling would ‘wreak havoc’ on the civil service absent Supreme Court intervention
A federal judge was set to review whether Trump has neutered civil service laws, but the Supreme Court has paused that effort while it considers the administration's request.
EPA workers fired over dissent letter appeal to MSPB
Only a fraction of the more than 130 employees who signed an open letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin accusing the Trump administration of “recklessly undermining” the agency’s mission were ultimately terminated, purportedly because they worked in “public-facing” roles.
House panel advances bills extending probationary periods to two years
Democrats decried the measure as a Trojan horse aimed at more easily screening new federal workers and job seekers on ideological grounds.
Government transformation is badly needed
COMMENTARY | The federal civil service could use an update, but it's not the workforce that's the problem, it's the culture. And there's already a proven playbook on how to fix it.
OPM reassures managers of ‘extremely narrow’ liability in performance management actions
The federal government’s HR agency reminded federal supervisors that they can be partially reimbursed for insurance against lawsuits that may arise from taking adverse actions against subordinates.
Correctional officers sue for restoration of union rights
The American Federation of Government Employees’ agency-specific lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s executive orders aimed at excising unions from most federal agencies accused the U.S. Bureau of Prisons of arbitrary and capricious decision-making.
Ex-feds join forces to reimagine government post-Trump
The nonprofit Democracy Forward has tapped more than a dozen former government workers as fellows to generate proposals to improve their former agencies’ effectiveness.
Agency layoff rules to get an overhaul under nearly finalized Trump administration proposal
OPM’s reduction in force revamp plan will put performance ratings over tenure and strip some employees of protections.
