Workforce
Updated
Stalled onboarding of Foreign Service fellows draws questions from lawmakers
Multiple programs that agencies use to recruit new employees have been upended by the Trump administration’s civil service reforms.
Survey of 11,000 feds underscores ‘layer cake of trauma’
A new survey from the Partnership for Public Service, aimed at replicating the cancelled 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, reveals just 7% of federal workers believe their political leaders engender high motivation.
Judge orders VA to restore collective bargaining
U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose found that VA Secretary Doug Collins violated the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedures Act last August when he terminated the American Federation of Government Employees’ union contracts.
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.
Arbitrator orders restoration of telework at Social Security
Though the Social Security Administration couched its mass cancellation of telework for employees as a temporary one based on “operational needs,” it has never provided a time frame or criteria for the workplace flexibility’s restoration.
EPA says it will slash workload after IG flags slashed workforce as overburdened
The environmental agency is struggling to handle its grants work after cutting its workforce last year.
Veterans who depend on mental health care keep losing their therapists under Trump
Since the start of the second Trump administration, departures of VA psychologists have been outpacing hires, and the department's cohort of social workers declined by nearly 700 staffers.
6 federal scientists run out by Trump talk about the work left undone
“There’s been a fundamental destruction,” one researcher said. It’s going to “take a very, very long time to rebuild.”
Education Department staff cuts have hurt service rather than streamlined bureaucracy, say opponents on 1-year mark of RIFs
Lawmakers and education advocates at Wednesday’s press conference also emphasized that the department has hired back some employees, and Congress rejected many proposed funding reductions at Education.
Energy Dept., NASA take steps to oust their unions
The Energy Department on Tuesday issued notices purporting to terminate its collective bargaining agreements with two unions, while NASA in recent weeks has begun stripping employees of their eligibility to bargain.
Employee groups revive lawsuit to block Schedule F
A coalition of labor unions and other employee advocacy groups say President Trump’s plan to convert around 50,000 federal workers to at-will employees violates federal law, the Constitution and threatens to upend the merit-based civil service.
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Continuing to shed federal workers remains ‘priority number one,’ White House official says
OMB deputy suggests that making it easier to fire feds will ‘liberate’ them to do their jobs better.
After shedding 25,000 employees, IRS chief says his agency now has perfect staffing level
The tax agency’s CEO criticized his predecessors for staffing up without justification, though he noted he has not conducted workforce analysis either.
Report: Nearly 95k science employees left government as Trump downsized agency workforces
The Trump administration also has cut spending on science contracts and grants.
DOJ contradicts FEMA on who approved mass firings
"I don't have a great explanation for that," a DOJ lawyer says when asked to clarify in court.
NTEU chief stands firm as agencies seek to terminate contracts
Doreen Greenwald said her union will continue to demand compliance with its collective bargaining agreements in face of a renewed push to excise labor groups from most federal agencies.
Updated
‘They are America’: Photographer spotlights civil servants who have lost their jobs under Trump
Retired lawyer Allan Dinkoff has documented 65 ex-feds for his photography project “Targeted: Portraits of Civil Servants Under Trump.”
IRS, Fiscal Service defy judges, terminate union contracts
The move to ax collective bargaining agreements with the National Treasury Employees Union, until now protected by a federal court order, comes just two weeks after the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance seemingly encouraging agencies to ignore the courts.
Ex-DOJ civil rights attorneys continue their work ‘just not in the division’
About three quarters of lawyers working on civil rights at the Justice Department have left the division since President Donald Trump took office.
Officials warn disaster response at risk as former and current FEMA leaders clash in court over mass staff cuts
Recent FEMA execs say the current leadership does not understand how the agency actually works.
