Show Notes
If your agency removes, demotes, or suspends you for more than 14 days, you have 30 calendar days to get to the Board. Miss it and the strongest case in the world never gets heard. Southworth PC attorneys Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor walk the MSPB appeal start to finish: who can appeal, what happens when you file, why the burden lands on the agency, and what winning looks like. In this episode: The Docket Three kinds of appeals leave the MSPB on September 2: RIF appeals, suitability actions, and probationary terminations. They move to OPM — mostly on paper, final word with the OPM Director. Per Government Executive's count, about 1,250 comments came in and 99% said don't do this. What does not change: tenured employees removed, demoted, or suspended more than 14 days still appeal to the Board, and pending cases stay there. A notice dated before September 2 and filed before it keeps you at the Board. Also as of this episode: the Board has proposed retiring the Douglas factors, and the EEOC has a hearing scheduled on its own process.
The Case File: Inside the MSPB Appeal, Start to Finish Four steps. One: who can appeal, and the 30-calendar-day door — weekends count, you file through the Board's e-Appeal system, and you don't need a lawyer to file. Two: the acknowledgment order, and the moment the burden flips — the agency has to prove its charges, more likely than not. You never prove you are innocent. Three: discovery — the agency answers under oath and its decision-makers sit for depositions. Four: the hearing — no jury, usually by video, decided by an Administrative Judge. Plus how these cases really end — and why the new OPM process has no discovery. The Interview: Kevin Byrnes, Patriots Law Group, and Lillian, USAID Employee Support Fund Kevin Byrnes — Navy Judge Advocate, Assistant U.S. Attorney, DOJ, 35-plus years and 150-plus jury trials — represents hundreds of separated USAID and State Department employees before the Board, and explains why he attacked the reduction in force as invalid from the outset rather than fighting its procedures. Lillian, a career USAID Foreign Service Officer, lived the dismantling from an overseas post. Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything "I have a RIF case from last year and it is still pending. If RIF appeals move to OPM on September 2nd, does my case still get pulled out from in front of the board?" "Guys, I want to appeal, but I can't afford a lawyer right now. Should I wait to file until I can?"
Chapters: 00:00:00 — Cold Open: What Leaves the Board Sept. 2 00:03:51 — The Docket: Three Appeals Move to OPM 00:09:51 — The Case File: Inside the MSPB Appeal 00:12:55 — Step 1: Who Appeals, and the 30-Day Clock 00:16:16 — Step 2: The Burden Flips to the Agency 00:19:58 — Step 3: Discovery, Your Superpower 00:23:46 — Step 4: The Hearing, and What Winning Is 00:34:34 — The Four Takeaways 00:37:29 — The Interview: Kevin Byrnes and Lillian 01:20:51 — Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything Resources mentioned: USAID Employee Support Fund: www.usaidemployeefund.org
The USAID Employee Support Fund, referred to throughout as USAID ESF, exists to finance legal defense for career USAID Foreign Service and Civil Service employees separated when the agency was dismantled in 2025. USAID ESF was established in response to a workforce crisis: hundreds of career public servants found themselves separated from federal service with no institutional support and, in many cases, without access to the hearings federal law promises. USAID ESF was created to address that gap, connecting affected employees with legal representation, coordinating their cases, and providing a collective voice that individual employees would not otherwise have. USAID ESF does not itself practice law. Rather, it is the organization that makes legal representation possible for employees who could not otherwise afford it, working alongside outside counsel and supporting its members throughout litigation that has, in many cases, extended well over a year.
More from Civil Rights for Civil Servants
The EEOC has published a proposed rewrite of the federal EEO process. Current Part 1614 procedures still govern today—but future filing, evidence development, and Administrative Judge access could change. Current as of September 4, 2026: the NPRM was published August 28 at 91 Fed. Reg. 55,690; comments are due September 28. It asks for comment on transition rules for matters pending when a final rule takes effect. Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor trace the 150-page Commission draft through one hypothetical nonselection case. In this episode: The Docket - The Commission voted 2–1 to issue the proposal. It is not final and has not changed current procedures; transition rules for pending matters remain open. - Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal moved for a 60-day comment period; no commissioner seconded the motion. The published deadline is September 28. The Case File: Federal EEO Process Changes Today, a federal employee generally starts by contacting an EEO counselor within 45 days. The proposal would generally replace mandatory counseling with a signed written complaint due within 60 days and require facts making the claim plausible. Shaun and Lydia explain why an employee should file on time without inventing missing facts, preserve everything submitted to the investigator, and report new workplace events promptly. They also examine the proposal’s largest procedural shift: the agency would ordinarily decide first, while the Commission would decide whether to refer issues for Administrative Judge proceedings. Hearings and discovery could still happen, but access and scope would depend on the referral and authorized proceedings. Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything - “What happens to my ongoing case?” - “Should employees who have reasonable accommodations worry?”
Your agency's return-to-office memo did not repeal the Rehabilitation Act. If "everyone back, no exceptions" is medically unworkable, the law still has an exception with your name on it. Southworth PC attorneys Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor walk the federal reasonable accommodation request start to finish — how to ask, what your agency owes you, the games to watch for, and what to do the day they say no. Treasury's civil rights office counted 6,500 backlogged requests, HHS projected six to nine months to clear roughly 9,000, and OPM's director estimates one in ten feds has a return-to-office exemption. In this episode: The Docket Is the federal-sector EEO process about to change? Unverified reports say leadership wants an overhaul — possibly including the guaranteed hearing right. Any change requires a proposed rule, and the statute's path to federal court stays. Also: AFGE has sued over the frozen class complaints. (As of the episode's August 3, 2026 date stamp.) OPM's appraisal overhaul is final and effective August 6: agencies may cap the top two rating levels, and grieving your rating of record is off the table. Lydia's move: build your performance file now — the Episode 1 playbook.
The strongest discrimination case in the world can end before anyone looks at the facts — because a federal employee missed a deadline nobody warned them about. Southworth PC attorneys Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor walk the federal EEO complaint process from first contact to hearing — where cases are won, where they're lost, and where they quietly get abandoned. With return-to-office denials, reorganizations, and RIFs pushing more feds into this system than in years, the deadlines decide more cases than the facts do. In this episode: The Docket A federal court ordered the Justice Department to restore full-time telework as a disability accommodation for two immigration-court attorney advisors (EOIR) — a preliminary injunction out of a July 10 hearing in the Eastern District of Virginia, with a bid for class status underway. The point: a return-to-office order doesn't override the Rehabilitation Act. (As of our mid-July 2026 recording.) Disabled veterans at the VA say the department is clawing back telework they'd relied on for years — and treating some as AWOL — even though the RTO directive was supposed to exempt qualifying disabilities. Drawing on her HR background, Lydia explains why a blanket accommodation "review" that skips the individualized, interactive process is a legal red flag.
Your probationary year is the year the law protects you least — and the year your agency can move you out without proving much of anything. Though these days, many people who have survived their probationary year feel like they're under similar strain. Regardless of how you feel about your legal protections, and regardless of what those protections are, are there other steps you can take to protect your career? Southworth PC attorneys Shaun Southworth and Lydia Taylor break down surviving the federal probationary period — and why, after 18 months of RIFs and reorganizations, even employees with years of service feel just as exposed. They're joined by communication coach Ken Canion on handling a boss who's decided they don't like you. The Docket Trump v. Slaughter: The Supreme Court held 6-3 (the week we recorded) that the president can remove independent-agency heads "for any reason or no reason at all," overruling the 90-year-old Humphrey's Executor. Most feds' EEOC and MSPB rights don't change — but the agencies enforcing them may feel new pressure from the top. Lydia's takeaway: don't panic, pay attention. Trump v. Cook: A 5-4 majority blocked the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook — for now — holding that "cause" still has to mean something. A narrow win, and a reminder these protections are weaker than they used to be. The Case File: Surviving the Probationary Period Probationary employees have the fewest protections in federal service — but not zero. You're still protected from discrimination, whistleblower reprisal, and other prohibited personnel practices. Beyond the law, they walk through the survival skills that protect any federal employee: turning vague criticism into a written record, building a "brag file" of your wins, and working a PIP so thoroughly your supervisor has to justify any action against you. You'll know exactly what to send after your next "you're not a good fit" conversation. The Interview: Ken Canion A communication coach who trained Southworth PC's leadership team — and a star of MTV's Caught in the Act: Unfaithful — Ken breaks down handling a supervisor who's turned on you, including the reframe that gets your boss to put expectations in writing. Listen for why "the person who asks the question controls the conversation." Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything "I'm 10 months into a one-year probation at the VA, and we just got a new acting director. Everybody's on edge. Do I keep my head down and hope this blows over?" "My supervisor never puts anything in writing. She says I need to step it up, but when I ask what it means, she gets vague. What should I do?" "My position just got moved to Schedule Policy/Career. Am I about to get fired, and what should I do now?" Chapters: 00:00:00 — Welcome: the most dangerous year 00:09:03 — The Docket: Trump v. Slaughter 00:16:57 — The Docket: Trump v. Cook 00:23:52 — The Case File: what still protects you 00:27:25 — Documentation & the brag file 00:34:16 — When you're put on a PIP 00:36:51 — The Interview: Coach Ken Canion 01:02:23 — Ask questions, control the conversation 01:13:10 — Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything 01:21:10 — Wrap-up: build what a file can't capture Resources mentioned: Ken Canion — coachkencanion.com Dorothy Leeds, The 7 Powers of Questions Have a question for the show? Email [email protected] or reach us on social. (Answering on air is general information and doesn't create an attorney-client relationship.) If this episode helped: leave a five-star review wherever you listen, and share it with a coworker who needs it. Subscribe so the next episode comes to you automatically. Learn more / get help: attorneysforfederalemployees.com Free daily newsletter for federal employees: fedlegalhelp.com/newsletter Podcast home: fedlegalhelp.com/podcast A quick note: This podcast is legal information, not legal advice. Listening does not make you a client. If something is happening to you at work, talk to a lawyer about your specific situation. This
Welcome to the premiere of Civil Rights for Civil Servants, the podcast from Southworth PC dedicated to federal employees nationwide. Hosts Shaun Southworth (founding partner) and Lydia Taylor (managing partner) launch the show on Juneteenth — a deliberate choice, because the day the last enslaved Americans in Galveston learned they were free, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, captures a theme at the heart of this work: people can hold rights they don't know they have. Many federal employees are in exactly that position. Every episode follows the same rhythm: The Docket (the federal-workforce news you need to know, in plain English), The Case File (one legal strategy you can actually use), the Interview, and Ask Shaun & Lydia Anything. In this episode: The Docket Schedule Policy/Career — the June 3 executive order moving roughly 4,800+ positions (about 8,000 employees) out of their traditional civil-service protections in a first wave, and what it means for MSPB and whistleblower rights. Who is actually affected, and why most of the workforce is not. OPM's proposed RIF rewrite — why a change that elevates recent performance ratings over length of service could reshape how reductions in force play out, and what employees should watch for.