The State Department is directing some managers to go back and revise annual performance evaluations they've already submitted to give employees lower scores. Under a 1-5 scoring system, State is telling managers to “strictly adhere to an average rating cap of 3.25” ⬇️

NY Times picks up & credits a story I've been following for a few months now: The CDC is top among agencies cracking down on workplace flexibilities as a reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities ⬇️ www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/h...

One separated Foreign Service officer told me his exact role is up on USAJobs right now. The posting says there are "MANY vacancies" the department is looking to fill

Today @state-department.bsky.social finalized layoffs for ~250 Foreign Service employees who have been on paid admin leave since July 2025. It rolled out this recruitment campaign last month for new hires. Officials recently told lawmakers that laid-off staff can't compete for these vacant positions

Most IRS employees (from HR & IT) involuntarily covering frontline filing-season work will remain on their temporary reassignments for 120 more days. Maybe another 120 days after that, depending on how quickly they clear a backlog of amended tax returns ⬇️

NPR: Employees may NOT bet on the Tiny Desk!!

IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano told @senatefinance.bsky.social this was the "most successful filing season in IRS history," and demonstrated that the agency can have both “less people and better results.” The agency lost 27% of its workforce last year ⬇️

Federal News Network: CDC eases telework restrictions for disabled employees, as HHS faces 9,000-request backlog by Jory Heckman @jheckman.bsky.social bit.ly/4cxZQLF

Interesting tidbit from the FY 2027 budget proposal: White House says it's eliminated 1,200 "redundant" federal websites so far in the Trump administration.

NEWS: The Interior Department is giving employees a third opportunity to accept voluntary incentives to leave their jobs or retire early, ahead of a long-awaited department reorganization. federalnewsnetwork.com/reorganizati...

Scoop: The IRS is telling some of its employees, in the final weeks of the filing season, that their overtime wages were miscalculated on tax forms, and that they may need to submit corrected returns ⬇️

Meanwhile, the IRS tech shop is back in hiring mode, after losing more than 40% of its workforce

Treasury is about to send reduction-in-force notices to employees at its Office of Financial Research, created by Congress in the aftermath of the 2008 recession to avoid a similar economic crisis. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

The Department of Veterans Affairs told a federal judge in Rhode Island yesterday that it complied with a court order to restore its contract covering 300K employees rep'd by @afgenvac.bsky.social, but is under no obligation to carry out its provisions ⬇️

A federal judge found VA Secretary Doug Collins “favored some unions over others,” by selectively enforcing an executive order that barred collective bargaining at many agencies (including the VA) over national security concerns federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-aff...

House Democrats say 830K taxpayers are waiting up to 2 months to get their tax refunds. The reason? They normally get their refund as a paper check, but the Trump administration phased those out in favor of electronic payments. federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2...

Scoop: The Interior Department directed all its bureaus and offices to delete non-English content from their websites by the end of the day Tuesday, according to an internal notice from its IT shop. federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-m...

Scoop: One less job for Marco Rubio. He's no longer serving as the acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration. Still dual-hatted as Secretary of State & acting national security advisor federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2026/...

2/5 HHS is facing a 3,300+ backlog of RA requests, with reviews expected to take 6–8 months. CDC employees with disabilities have been given mixed or incorrect guidance about telework accommodations. ❗ Must read from @jheckman.bsky.social at @federalnewsnetwork.com

A VA nurse working in an oncology unit said cuts to support staff mean her coworkers are spending more time on ancillary duties -- at less time with patients.

11K+ VA employees in health care-related positions -- including 1,300 nurses, 800 medical support assistants & 200 physicians - applied for "deferred resignation," signed up for early retirement, or voluntarily retired. VA says 'very few' are eligible for separation incentives

Went for a run and made a new friend last week. But I’m back on the clock and ready to do some reporting. News tips on what’s happening in the federal government/workforce are always welcome Signal: Jheckman.29 Email: [email protected]

NEW: Layoff notices were scheduled to hit several IRS offices last Friday -- but never came. Rumors spread among employees as to why. But the acting deputy COO says "glitches" and "issues" are to blame. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

It's hard to overstate how much everyone who worked on IRS Direct File saw it as a new model for government to deliver benefits & services to the public. Almost a 180-degree flip from the 2013 Healthcare. gov crash. federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2...

Scoop: As part of its return-to-office plans, OPM is planning to spend more than $42M to relocate approximately 250 employees — or about $166,000 per employee. That's significantly higher than what the average federal employee makes in a year. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

@wired.com Big fan of all the reporting you're doing on the federal news beat. I always try to give credit when you're first to a story. Probably a simple oversight, but I'm hoping you're able to return the favor on the SSA/X news I broke this morning federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

good thing so many retirees are tech savvy, have X accounts, and are good at spotting misinformation!

Breaking news: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow the president to remove a pair of independent regulators whose cases have broad implications for at least two dozen other agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, and for how the federal government operates.

GSA's acting administration recently told employees, "There's nobody working for DOGE here." But DOGE officials dominate a list of vetted personnel granted access to restricted parts of the GSA's headquarters federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

🚨SSA back at it with plans to require some beneficiaries to verify their IDs online or in person (no more 📞). This time, they want to: 1⃣ Partner with USPS to let people verify ID in person at post offices 2⃣ Roll out facial recognition option federalnewsnetwork.com/benefits/202...

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will end a mortgage rescue plan that has saved many veterans from needlessly losing their homes, the move could strand thousands of others who need help.

🚨 IRS is giving about 7K recently fired probationary employees the option to return to their jobs "on full-time duty" by April 14 -- the day before Tax Day. Up until now, they've been "reinstated," but on paid admin leave federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten...

Can confirm WaPo's reporting that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services employees who got layoff notices today were told to contact EEO Director Anita Pinder to file employment discrimination complaints -- but she died last November. Spoke to a current employee who went to her funeral

NEW: DOGE demanded full access to a US Department of the Interior system that handles even the Supreme Court's paychecks. When top staff asked questions, they were put on leave.

🚨 Institute of Museum and Library Services is putting all its employees on paid administrative leave, after a brief meeting between DOGE & IMLS leadership. Employees must turn in all govt property before leaving. Email accounts are also being disabled. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service is terminating nearly all 220 of its employees by COB today. It'll keep a "skeleton crew" of ~12 employees to manage work required by law. It's 1 of 7 small agencies targeted for elimination in a recent EO federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

GSA terminated nearly 1K leases last week — the first of six waves of federal office space downsizing planned for FY 25. But according to multiple sources, the agency is now walking back ~300 of those lease terminations for 'public-facing' govt buildings. t.co/vHgKmqZnXB

VA withdrew at least dozens of Veterans Crisis Line job offers - after canceling remote positions, but not having enough office space to put them in. After our reporting, a VA spokesperson says they're "in the process of reissuing" these jobs offers federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-aff...

"There is sheer panic about GSA cutting cards," a VA employee tells me. GSA plan would give all of VA <500 authorized cardholders to manage $6B+ in spending. That's less than what many VISNs have right now. VA's the largest integrated health system in the U.S.

NEWS: VA is being asked to severely limit the number of employees who can make purchases through a governmentwide charge card program — a decision that could impact billions of dollars in annual spending. federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-aff...

📬🚨 HUGE NEWS 📬🚨 Trump plans to fire the USPS governing board, merge the Postal Service into the Commerce Department. It would disrupt 55 years of non-political mail service, and threatens to upend trillions of dollars of ecommerce and the 250 year-old US mail system.

BREAKING: OPM is advising all federal agencies to fire their probationary employees with less than a year on the job, after it stopped accepting new offers for its “deferred resignation” program last night. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

Current and former GSA employees -- anonymous news tips are always welcome via Signal (jheckman.29) and email ([email protected])

GSA is pushing major cuts to personnel, real estate and contracts in pursuit of its -50% spending goal. According to folks inside the building, agency leaders say they may need to slow workforce reduction efforts, “because they’re losing too many key people." federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

"Some IRS employees taking OPM’s ‘deferred resignation’ offer told to keep working until May 15" federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten... @jheckman.bsky.social

The Postal Service’s regulator warns the next phase of a 10-year reform plan would slow mail delivery for a “significant portion of the nation,” but wouldn’t save USPS enough money to justify the changes. federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-overs...

Sources tell me this has begun.

New from me: Michael Peters, commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service, says he's looking at cutting up to 50% of GSA's total real estate portfolio over the coming years. Also, GSA plans to move out of its 1800 F St headquarters. federalnewsnetwork.com/facilities-c...

New from me: VA exempted its health care workforce from the first Trump hiring freeze in 2017. But VA Secretary nominee Doug Collins didn’t make an explicit assurance to lawmakers the department would grant those same carveouts this time around. federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-reten...

A lawsuit has been filed to invalidate Trump's executive order reinstituting Schedule F (which has been relabeled "Schedule Policy/Career"). The suit was filed by the National Treasury Employees Union. The complaint is here: federalworkerrights.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...