Civil Service
Federal employee NDAs aren’t new, but expanding them requires careful guardrails
COMMENTARY | A new proposal would expand federal nondisclosure agreements beyond classified work. Will it curb leaks or chill legitimate whistleblowing?
Federal reform efforts keep repeating the same pattern. Tennessee offers a different model
COMMENTARY | A federal Pay Agent report and Tennessee’s civil service overhaul highlight a familiar problem: reform depends less on policy design than on management capacity and execution.
Supreme Court rejects lower court bid to review immigration judge gag order
Justices reversed an appeals court decision that would have greenlit a fact-finding expedition into whether President Trump had effectively nullified review of personnel policies under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.
OPM proposes requiring all feds to sign an NDA
Experts warned the measure, when combined with the federal HR agency’s new power to target employees’ suitability for federal employment, creates a new pathway for Trump administration officials to purge those deemed insufficiently loyal to the president.
Survey: Feds were less engaged, less satisfied and more burnt out in 2025
But quarterly federal employee workplace scores generally showed improvements by the end of last year and the beginning of 2026.
Why federal agencies still need to defend hiring standards
COMMENTARY | The Trump administration may be pulling back on disparate-impact enforcement, but agencies still face lawsuits, scrutiny and pressure to prove hiring standards are tied to the job.
‘Sermonizing’ Easter email prompts USDA employees to sue agency
In response to the lawsuit, the department said, “we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers.”
Feds wary of skills-based hiring survey after 15 months of attacks
The combination of a lack of outreach around a newly deployed survey of federal workers’ skillsets with the recent flood of layoffs, purges and reorganizations has made some reluctant to participate in the bipartisan initiative.
Inside the effort to connect Congress with the feds enacting its policies
Those writing laws don’t often hear from those charged with implementing them. The POPVOX Foundation wants that to change.
A week of recognition, and a career of service
Behind the honors and milestones, federal employees carry a lasting sense of purpose that extends well beyond a single week.
Federal workforce trauma is creating a stumbling block for AI adoption
COMMENTARY | Following massive workforce reductions — and a $165.6 billion hit to the U.S. economy — federal managers are struggling to integrate AI as low engagement collapses across agencies.
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Feds that Trump fired without cause can take their appeals directly to federal court, judges say
The most recent decision involved a challenge from Maurene Comey, a former DOJ attorney and daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.
Dem senators boost effort to reinstate 2 immigration judges
Last month, the Merit Systems Protection Board upended decades of precedent when it ruled that the attorney general has constitutional authority to fire immigration judges on an at-will basis.
Fewer federal employees are ‘thriving’ and more are ‘struggling’, according to new survey
The Trump administration in 2025 nixed an annual survey of federal employee engagement and morale, but polls from other organizations provide insights.
Exclusive
Ex-VOA employees challenge last year’s buyout and retirement offers
Four former U.S. Agency for Global Media employees seek class certification from the Merit Systems Protection Board, arguing that the March invalidation of Kari Lake’s actions atop the agency should also apply to agreements reached under the Deferred Resignation Program and other buyout authorities.
Critics argue new federal workforce rules increase the risk of politicization, not accountability
COMMENTARY | The debate over the Policy/Career Schedule centers on whether the changes strengthen accountability or erode civil service protections.
Federal labor board asserts political control over union elections
Union experts warned the move could set the stage for interference in union elections and determining the size of agency bargaining units.
MSPB relinquishes jurisdiction over some federal worker appeals
The agency tasked with adjudicating appeals of federal employee firings upended decades of precedent in ruling that agencies may challenge its jurisdiction on constitutional grounds.
Fired MSPB member appeals to Supreme Court
Attorneys for former Democratic Merit Systems Protection Board Member Cathy Harris argued that however the justices rule in a similar case involving the Federal Trade Commission, Congress can prescribe removal protections for officials at “purely adjudicative” agencies.
Performance prioritized over seniority in proposed RIF rule, OSC says
COMMENTARY | The Office of Special Counsel says proposed reduction-in-force changes would give more weight to employee performance and offers its own perspective on how agencies might apply the new rules.
