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We know these are challenging and unprecedented times for our members, most especially public servants working at the federal level. We also know that you are receiving a cascade of news every day—sometimes it feels like every minute—and trying to make sense of it all.

To help cut through some of the noise, ASPA is sending this e-digest, Federal Workforce in Turmoil, a curated selection of articles and commentaries with an eye toward sources that may not typically end up in your inbox. We hope to capture what you need to know for as long as you need to know it.

Tougher Federal Worker Reviews Roll Out With Hits to Morale

Ian Kullgren, Skye Witley, Evan Weinberger, Sandhya Raman and Lauren Clason, Bloomberg Law

October 20

The Trump administration is rolling out seismic changes to federal performance evaluations—and workers say they are already eroding morale and diminishing managers’ input.

Read More Here

OPM eliminates time-in-grade restrictions for federal promotions

Drew Friedman, Federal News Network

October 20

Federal employees will no longer have to complete a full year in their current paygrade before becoming eligible for promotion.

Read More Here

Trump’s IG pick at the VA is "watering down" oversight, some employees allege

Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive

October 20

During her tenure at the helm of the VA’s OIG, Cheryl Mason has overseen significant staff cuts and watered down the office’s oversight work, according to some employees, who argue that services for veterans are less effective and efficient as a result.

Read More Here

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Fired NLRB Member’s Appeal

Jade Lozada, The Washington Sun

October 19

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a former National Labor Relations Board member fired by President Donald Trump last year, backing the executive branch’s authority over independent agencies.

Read More Here

FBI agents and analysts fired for roles in Trump classified files probe sue to get their jobs back

Eric Tucker, Associated Press via Federal News Network

October 16

FBI employees fired for their roles in the investigation of President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Florida estate sued Thursday to get their jobs back, calling their terminations unlawful acts of “political retribution.”

Read More Here

Judge again orders reinstatement of Bureau of Prisons union contracts, but stops short of contempt

Erich Wagner, Government Executive

October 16

U.S. District Judge Jordan Oliver found that the agency’s re-termination of its collective bargaining agreements last week violated last month’s preliminary injunction but said he would not police individual contract infractions.

Read More Here

Resources

When told to break the law, must feds just follow orders?

Joshua Gotbaum and Sean O'Keefe, Brookings Institution

September 10

The Follow the Rules Act, signed by President Trump in 2017, prohibits firing, demoting or sanctioning federal workers who decline to carry out orders that violate the Constitution, statutes or regulations.

Read More Here

Inside the Implementation of Schedule Policy/Career

Nick Bednar, Lawfare

According to Scott Kupor, 97 percent of the positions are at or above the GS-15 level, the highest grade on the General Schedule pay scale. The order also transfers some GS-13 and GS-14 employees, mostly those working within the Office of Management and Budget. This initial order transfers significantly fewer employees to Schedule Policy/Career than the 50,000 initially estimated.

Read More Here

Schedule P/C Fact Sheet

Produced by Rise Up, AFGE, Civil Service Strong and Partnership for Public Service

June 2026

Read More Here

Virtual Go Bag

American Foreign Service Association

AFSA strongly recommends working now to prepare a file with the following documents that pertain solely to you and emailing them to a personal email account.

Read More Here

Civic Match

Connecting top public sector talent with essential local government jobs.

Read More Here

FormerGov.com

Former Gov is a platform to connect former government employees and military professionals with those who could benefit from their experience, knowledge, and insight. Search and find the expertise you seek.

Read More Here

Virginia Resources for Impacted Federal Workers

Resources for impacted workers listed here including unemployment insurance, job search options and more.

Read More Here

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