Management
Disability accommodations at Labor get extra scrutiny with annual reviews
The department plans to review existing accommodations for disabilities and pregnancy-related conditions, with employees potentially asked to provide updated medical documentation.
Workforce
HHS scraps disability accommodations over missing paperwork. Employees say they have receipts
A union leader for CDC headquarters employees said the Health and Human Services Department closing out these accommodation requests was “a deliberate choice to clear the backlog."
Workforce
Social Security ends flexible work schedules, teeing up clash with union
The agency’s top HR official says these changes are necessary to “deliver the service the public expects.” A union argues SSA violated its labor contract making this decision on its own.
Updated
Management
State Department appeals board, now with limited authority, gains new members
The Trump administration recently limited the board’s authority to challenge employee removals and other adverse personnel actions, asserting that the secretary of state has final say on these decisions.
Workforce
Trust in government is sinking, but a new survey suggests civil servants’ stock is rising
The percentages of respondents who said most civil servants are competent and committed to helping people “like me” increased to record highs — at 65% and 61%, respectively.
Workforce
Judge halts ‘favorite EO’ question on federal job applications
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued a stay blocking federal agencies from asking an essay question civil service advocates call a “loyalty question,” but found he could not prevent consideration of answers already provided by job applicants.
Workforce
Former pardon atty calls MSPB ‘a dead end,’ sues for reinstatement
Liz Oyer, who was fired from her position as pardon attorney last year over her refusal to recommend that Mel Gibson’s right to own a firearm be restored, said the Justice Department did not follow its own policies when it removed her.
Workforce
Agencies have a new question to answer about employee misconduct
COMMENTARY | New rules could give agencies another way to act on misconduct uncovered through continuous vetting. The challenge will be making sure they’re ready to use it.
Management
Pushed out by the Trump administration, these ex-feds want to make agency firings simpler and fairer
Across 12 cases that were analyzed for a new report on federal firing reform, it took an average 19 months for the underperforming employee to be removed or otherwise leave the position.
Workforce
Unions: OPM’s suitability and performance management overhauls assert ‘plenary’ authority over federal firing
A coalition of labor groups sued the Trump administration Monday, arguing recent moves to centralize authority within the Office of Personnel Management and insert subjective criteria into employee evaluations amount to an end-run around the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.
Management
Agencies backfilled 20,600 employees who left government under the deferred resignation programs, analysis finds
The Office of Personnel Management disputed the findings and countered that the analysis also shows around 85% of the DRP separations were not replaced.
Management
State Department board’s ability to challenge firings undercut by DOJ
Critics of the decision say the Justice Department's opinion is another step in the Trump administration's goal of making it easier to fire federal employees who are not fully aligned with its policy goals.
Workforce
Federal job listings provide clues for next set of Schedule P/C conversions
New analysis from the Partnership for Public Service reveals that agencies have begun advertising positions as Schedule Policy/Career or planned for the at-will job category.
Workforce
State Department expands push to reclassify employees as at-will workers
An expanded search for more Schedule Policy/Career conversions is still in its early stages, but a department employee says the effort is “moving relatively fast.”
Oversight
Key oversight and federal workforce nominees confirmed by Senate
Several of the individuals will lead agencies that have been downsized or otherwise weakened by the Trump administration.
Workforce
New documentary recounts ‘free-for-all attitude of cruelty’ toward axed federal employees
The movie, which was filmed during the start of the second Trump administration, examines the human and societal effects of recent federal job cuts.
Workforce
Trump wants to scrap a key framework for federal employee discipline
Officials said the Douglas factors, 12 criteria federal agencies have used for 45 years to devise and justify discipline for misconduct, are too restrictive and “mechanistic.” Practitioners disagree.
Workforce
OPM finalizes ‘Nixonian’ rule centralizing and enabling some federal firings
Under final regulations published this week, the federal government’s dedicated HR agency can remove federal employees from across government over suitability and conduct issues—blocking most avenues for appeal.
Management
Slaughter and the expansion of presidential power
COMMENTARY | The Supreme Court’s latest ruling has dismantled a century of independence for federal regulators, and the ripples of this decision may just be the start of a much broader reshaping of the executive branch.
Workforce