Special Unscheduled Episode: Building Resilience Amid Federal Employment Changes

Federal employees are facing a critical juncture with the recent buyout offers from OPM, leading to confusion and anxiety among workers. The episode clarifies the complexities surrounding voluntary separation incentives, eligibility criteria, and the potential implications of reductions in force on employment.

• Explanation of the recent OPM buyout offers
• Importance of seeking legal advice and understanding rights
• Eligibility criteria for voluntary separation incentive payments
• Overview of federal employment protections and procedures
• Discussion of potential reductions in force and their impacts
• Resources for federal employees considering their options
• Urgent call for action to address concerns and navigate the challenges ahead

Show Links
Bell Law Group (Mentioned in Episode)
Bell Law Group | NY Employment Lawyers & Personal Injury Law Firm

Adam P. Grogan, Esq.
Adam Grogan | Bell Law Group
apg@belllg.com

Daniel Siegel, Esq.
Danny Siegel | Bell Law Group
dsiegel@belllg.com

Porter McHenry, Esq.
Porter McHenry | Bell Law Group
pmchenry@belllg.com

OPM Main Website:
OPM Home - OPM.gov

OPM Information Regarding Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIPs):
Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments

OPM Handbook for Workforce Reshaping
Workforce Reshaping Handbook

Code of Federal Regulations Regarding Suitability and Fitness for Service:
eCFR :: 5 CFR Part 731 -- Suitability and Fitness

Code of Federal Regulations Regarding Reductions in Force:
eCFR :: 5 CFR Part 351 -- Reduction in Force

Chapters

• 0:14 Understanding Federal Employee Buyouts
• 19:00 Federal Employee Voluntary Separation Incentives
• 34:23 Federal Employee Voluntary Separation Incentives Details
• 41:48 Navigating Federal Employee Reductions in Force
• 51:39 Understanding Federal Employee RIF Process
• 1:04:22 Federal Employee Removal Process Overview
• 1:15:04 Protecting Federal Employees From Unjust Practices
• 1:29:33 Empowerment in Federal Employment

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Hi guys, welcome to CPTSD and Me, where we walk our healing journey together. My name is Andrea Ennis and I'm your host. This is going to be a very special episode of CPTSD and me. I've noticed a lot of people out to federal employees from OPM with the subject line fork in the road, and if you have heard anything about this on the news, you basically know that federal employees are being offered what's called a buyout. Federal employees are being offered what's called a buyout. There are specific terms for this that we're going to get into, but before we get into anything, I want to give you guys the reason why I'm making this episode.

Speaker 1: 1:14

As you guys know, I am a formerly practicing attorney. What you may not know is that I specifically and primarily focused on federal employment, meaning I was in the trenches dealing with these codes day in, day out. I know them like the back of my hand and, while nothing in this episode will be legal advice, I need you guys to understand this. This is not legal advice. I am not allowed to give legal advice anymore because I do not practice law anymore. Anything that I am saying is directly on the internet, on the OPM website. It is available for the general public to see, and I suggest you all go read it. If I offer any insight into how these work, it is based on my previous experience. Any insight into how these work. It is based on my previous experience. I am not giving advice to any federal employee that is listening to this right now. However, I know you guys are scared and if there's any federal employees listening to this right now, I know this is a hard time and I need you guys to do me a favor and I need you guys to breathe and hear me out. We're going to put this in perspective together. I told you when I started this podcast we're walking this journey together, baby, and I'm here. I'm keeping my word to you guys. All I need you to do is listen and share. If you think this is going to help somebody, all right. So, like I said before we get into anything, anything at all. This is not legal advice.

Speaker 1: 2:56

To be clear, if you are looking for legal advice as a federal employee, I would highly, highly suggest that you reach out to an employment law firm that deals specifically with federal employees. Do not just reach out to any employment firm. The laws and regulations excuse me, guys, I'm doing this free flow. There's no script. Sorry, the people that work in the general employment law firms do not generally handle federal employment cases and the law is completely different, and I'm going to get into why that is. I'm going to get into why that is. I'm going to get into all the weeds of that, but what I need you guys to understand if you need legal help as a federal employee, not an SES, not an appointee, I mean you can if you're an SES or an appointee, but I'm directing this episode towards the civil servant federal employee, not by appointment, not an SES, not a non-NSF and again, we're going to get into all that, what those are. But if you're a Fed employee, you know, you know I'm talking to you right now you need to seek out a law firm that deals specifically with federal employees. I personally know of a law firm that is phenomenal Out of this world, phenomenal. I don't know if I'm allowed to publicly give their information out because I haven't run it by them. However, I would be more than happy to privately recommend them to you. If you want to reach out to the show at CPTSDandMeShow at gmailcom, I will be monitoring that email box today continuously to give out any of that law firm information, should anyone need it. I'll probably be monitoring it continuously for the next two to three days. I'll probably be monitoring it continuously for the next two to three days and then after that it'll be a little bit slower, but I'm still going to be there for you guys. I still check it every day, so I will see it. It just might not be the same day response after the next two to three days.

Speaker 1: 5:49

So, with all of that out of the way, what is a federal employee, a federalees? There's all sorts of different types and they all have their own codes and regulations. So, to simplify this for everyone listening right now, what we're going to be going through is we're going to be going through the general average Joe federal employee. This is the person that applied to the government, was hired under an NSF position, meaning it was funded by Congress. That's all that means, and the money was earmarked by Congress to be spent for this agency. Okay, non-nsf employees are basically those emergency employees that you get from like FEMA. I've heard a lot of those, I've talked to a lot of those employees before and you know there's ways that the agencies can make non NSF positions last for years.

Speaker 1: 6:40

I'm not getting into that because they're not who we're covering today. I'm not getting into that because they're not who we're covering today. But, again, if you are a non-NSF employee and you have questions regarding what you're entitled to, please reach out to that federal employment law firm. Again, google it. You can find a ton of them. Just type in federal employee law firm and you'll get a ton of responses. Or you can reach out to me, like I said, and I'll give you the name of that law firm.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Anyway, so what we're going to be dealing with are those general, everyday federal workers. All right, so the way this works for federal employees is the first thing that the general public needs to know is they're not like us. They are entitled to their job. So you go. Well, I'm entitled to my job, I got hired, I can do it. It's not the same. So what I mean by they're entitled to their job is they can't just get fired. There has to be a reason, there has to be a cause because Congress has dictated that those positions be put into place, because Congress has determined that the government in America needs them to function.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Now, when we are going to be discussing quote unquote head of the agency. This means any agency that is under the executive branch. There are agencies that operate outside the executive branch. I'm not getting into the weeds with this. We're keeping this as simple as we can today. So the head of an agency is up to and including the president. I know that sounds asinine, right, but here's the logic behind the code the president is the head of the executive branch and all agencies are under the executive branch. Therefore, the president is the head of all the agencies. It's asinine because you know, like, what the fuck does Donald Trump know about FEMA? Probably not much, so it's asinine. It really should be up to the people, the individual heads of the agencies, in my opinion, but it does include the president, right, so the president is allowed to do certain things that manage the federal workforce. One of those things would be including what I worked on and what I was interviewed on Fox News for.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Let's take, for example, the vaccine mandate. Right? So the vaccine mandate was an executive order from the head of the executive, right? The president, and it went down to all of the other federal agencies. Okay? So, even though there are certain regulations for each and every agency, okay, the president overrides those head of the agency determinations. That's what you need to understand. So if an executive order comes from the president but an agency's regulations say the head of the agency must do X, y, z before they implement any type of vaccine mandate, for example, the president overrides that. You need to understand that. So even if your specific agency says the head of the agency can't do this, if the president says it yes, they can. President says it yes, they can. So, god, this sucks. I'm sorry, I'm so mad about this that I even have to sit here and fucking do this. Yeah, and this is going to be a profanity laden episode because I'm that mad. So buckle up, all right.

Speaker 1: 10:40

So what's a federal employee? Like I said, they're those NSF, civil servant, average Joe employees. All right, federal employees are paid under a series and a grade. So what that means is you'll see or sometimes hear a federal employee go yeah, I'm a GS, 13, step two, step two, okay. What that means is they are in the 13th pay grade, okay, and they're in the step two of that pay grade. So each pay grade has steps before you reach the next promotion level. It makes it so that you can't just like keep jumping pay grade levels. You have to earn it, kind of thing, and it's a way of doing those performance-based evaluations every year and seeing if they earn that step or if they don't. So every agency is required to do these performance-based evaluations every year and this is important. I want you guys to remember this because we're going to come back to this in a little bit. Every average Joe federal employee gets a performance evaluation every year and that performance evaluation determines whether or not they go up a step. There are circumstances where they can go down demotions and things like that. Again, I'm not getting into the weeds with all this stuff, I'm just trying to give you the average experience. Okay, so average Joe federal employee gets his performance evaluation every year. He's doing fine moving up through the ranks. Um, average Joe has no performance issues. Does average Joe have any conduct issues?

Speaker 1: 12:40

So there are two chapters under which a federal employee can be removed. There's chapter 43 and chapter 75. Even as employment attorneys we get these mixed up. I'm pretty sure 43 is the performance and 75 is the conduct. I might have them reversed. I don't remember. It's been a while.

Speaker 1: 12:56

Either way, those are the two routes to basically remove a federal employee from service. Either they're not able to perform the job or their conduct makes it so that they can't stay in their job. So conduct like getting arrested and you work for the FBI kind of deal, you can't do that. Additionally, federal employees must undergo all the screening, security screening and stuff like that. So if there is an issue with their security, there's reasons for removal there, because I need you guys to understand that there are avenues for it, but they're not easy to do.

Speaker 1: 13:46

Okay, that's for your individual basis for removal of a federal employee. Okay, the other things are so minute they never really happen. Funding, which you guys know that they fight back and forth about it every goddamn year and end up just passing the damn budget anyway. I don't know why we do this every year, but fuck it. Anyway, for the most part, unless the money goes away, unless they're not performing their job correctly, unless they've done something egregious, that they have to get conduct wise, that they have to get removed, unless they can't pass their security clearance, they get their job. They get to sit there, they get to get their job. They get to do their job and that's it. They don't get to get fired because their manager doesn't like them. They can get reassigned. There's other ways to do that, but it's not, excuse me, it's not like us, it's not like the private sector where your boss doesn't like your haircut that week. So, bye, good luck, no notice, these guys have plenty of notice.

Speaker 1: 15:06

Okay, these guys have ample opportunity in most circumstances to address the reason why they're getting removed and they have certain rights. Excuse me, extend into, you know, is the removal action being based on a protected class? Well then, you fall under EEOC. Is the removal actually because of their performance or because their boss just doesn't like them? Well, that's when you get your appeal rights to the MSPB, all right. So we'll get into those a little bit later, but that's basically. There's avenues right for them to fight their removal and even after they're removed, there's avenues for them to get their damn job back with back pay. Ok, their jobs are incredible and that's why people want to go work for that for the government, so bad, because once you're in, you're basically in unless you fuck up, okay, and the, the retirement, um, all of that. You know they get all those benefits. So, of course, once you're in, you're in right. So here's. Here's what's happening right now. Okay, happening right now.

Speaker 1: 16:28

Okay, federal employees have their own HR department, okay, just like your job has its own HR department. Okay, the HR department for the federal government is called the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM for short. Opm is the end all be all for employment actions. Okay, they set the rules of how to do it, based on the legal authority saying that it can be done, all right. So OPM takes all these CFRs, which are the Code of Federal Regulations, the United States Code, a USC. They take all this crap right and put these into those really handy dandy handbooks for the agencies. And again, all of these handbooks are available to the general damn public.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Nothing I am telling you is a fucking secret. Okay, I need you guys to just understand this. This is not my legal expertise. It is right, fucking here for every American to read. I am pointing at my other goddamn monitor, all right, at the handbook that I opened up publicly. This is not a secret, okay, not a secret. Okay, opmgov, that's it. Go to OPMgov and you can see everything that I'm talking about, literally everything that I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 17:55

So what does OPM do? Like I said, they take all these things. They're, in the end, all be all of how to apply these codes? Okay, they're, in the end, all be all of how to apply these codes. Okay. So, as with everything, there are ways to properly handle removals and improperly handle removals. Okay, so well, andrea, what happens if the job's not needed anymore? Andrea, what happens if Congress takes away the money for that specific department of that agency? Well, that's what you have known as a reduction in force or a RIF. Rifs have their own codes and regulations. You can't just do them.

Speaker 1: 19:00

Elon Musk I hope the fuck you're listening to me right now, even though I know you're not you it goes through what's required in order to implement a RIF. Now, I guarantee you, one of Elon Musk's buddies over at the OPM office went through and went uh-oh, we can't just do this, because apparently Elon Musk thinks he can just throw fucking money at shit and it'll just go away and baby. That ain't how this works, because even those buyouts that we're talking about, those voluntary separation incentive payments, or VSIPs as we're going to be calling them, there's certain limitations to those too. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take a quick break, because I'm running out of recording time on this session, and I will be right back and we're going to get into the weeds of what those voluntary separation incentive payments are. That's what they're talking about, and I don't know exactly what's in the email because I haven't been sent one. And if you want to send me one, feel free to send me one at CPTSDandMeShow at gmailcom, and I'd be more than happy to do another episode on this. Fuck it, I might be doing daily episodes on this, because that's how much this is bullshit. So I'm going to take a quick break and when I come back we'll get into those voluntary separation incentive payments. All right, guys, we're back, all right.

Speaker 1: 20:33

So before we get into the weeds of the VSIP those voluntary separation incentive plans payments you need to know a couple of things that tack on to that thing about protected classes. One of the protected classes of employees are those with disabilities, and something that not a lot of federal employees understand is that if they have a disability as a federal employee and they've reached all their requirements to maintain their employment not probationary, all that other stuff they're just hired on good to go and they become medically unable to perform the essential functions of their position. All right, you'll hear me say this a lot the essential functions of their position. All right, you'll hear me say this a lot the essential functions of their position. This doesn't mean what they want them to do, right, this isn't. This doesn't mean like, oh, my boss wants me to use a typewriter instead of a computer. That's not an essential function. Right, that's a, that's a, that's a preference, and those aren't protected for the agency.

Speaker 1: 21:43

What I mean as an essential function is can you read? Can you read the regulations or instructions for your job? If you can't read, can you use an assistive device right, to help you read? Is there anything that the agency can do to accommodate you? And one of the things that I used to specialize in and actually what I got interviewed for from Fox, was reasonable accommodations. I am damn proud of this compliment that I got from my managing partner. That man is probably the smartest fucking attorney I've ever met in my life. And, alan, if you're listening, this is about you, boss. He said that I probably know more about reasonable accommodations than most of the attorneys in the country, and he's right. It's taken me years to be able to say it. He's right, I guarantee you I know more than you.

Speaker 1: 22:46

Um, so, basically, what this federal disability retirement is is you take this employee who can no longer medically do their job, the the agency, okay, can't provide them with a reasonable accommodation. All right, the employee can't do their job anymore. So what federal employees are entitled to, as long as they meet the requirements for it? I'm not getting into the requirements. Check with a federal employment law firm if you're confused, or check out the OPM handbooks. Whatever you got to do, I ain't telling you, but all you need to know is that, basically, what they get is disability retirement and that means they retire early from the federal workforce and they collect their retirement benefits early. Now there's certain limitations as to how much they get. It changes based on how long they've been in service.

Speaker 1: 23:45

Like I said, not getting into the weeds, check with your federal employment law firm, but the quick and simple is if you can't medically do your job, the agency can't accommodate you. You apply to OPM for disability retirement, all right. The reason I'm saying this is because those employees that are entitled or would be entitled to disability retirement are not eligible for voluntary separation incentive payments. I will say this loud and clear for any federal employee listening to this right now they cannot offer you VSIPs if you are, if you have a disability. I'm going to read it right from the OPM website If you have a disability such that the individual is or would be eligible for disability retirement, you are not eligible for a VSIP. You got a reasonable accommodation.

Speaker 1: 24:58

I would highly suggest reaching out to a federal employment law firm to make sure that, if you decide to take this VSIP, you're not fucking yourself over. I would honestly recommend that for anyone considering taking this VSIP, reach out to a federal employment law firm, because you can fuck yourself really really bad if you take it and other things are going on. So God, I fucking hate that. Alright, anyway. Anyway, I'm getting lost. Alright, here we go.

Speaker 1: 25:31

So here are the people Excuse me that are eligible For these VSIPs, and this is defined Under 5 USC section 2105,. Who meets these general eligibility requirements may receive an offer. The employee must again, this is coming right from the OPM website, not a secret the employee must be serving in an appointment without a time limit. Be currently employed by the executive branch of the federal government for a continuous period of at least three years. Be serving in a position covered by an agency VSIP plan ie in the specific geographic area, organization series and grade. That's that series and grade I was talking about in the first part. Okay, only certain ones are eligible for these.

Speaker 1: 26:32

Apply for, and receive approval for, a VSIP from the agency making the VSIP offer and not be included in any of the ineligibility categories listed below. And those ineligibility categories are one are re-employed annuitants. Two have a disability such that the individual is or would be eligible for disability retirement. Three have received a decision notice of involuntary separation for misconduct or poor performance, that's a Chapter 43 or Chapter 75 removal. Get another one. Five during the 36-month period preceding the data separation, perform service for which a student loan repayment benefit was paid or is to be paid. Psfl anyone During the 24-month period preceding the data separation, perform service for which a recruitment or a relocation incentive was paid or is to be paid. And seven during the 12-month period preceding the date of separation, performed service for which a retention incentive was paid or is to be paid.

Speaker 1: 27:52

Now let me tell you something. When I was practicing, rarely, if ever came across someone that did not fall into these seven categories, I'm going to say that the fuck again for you. So you hear me. I rarely, if ever, found someone that qualified for these VSIP payments. Either they had already taken one previously and came back to federal employment, they were eligible for disability retirement. That was the big one. That was the really, really big one is that they would be eligible for disability retirement, or it was one of the five, six or seven that they got money in a certain period of time before the before the VSIP was offered.

Speaker 1: 28:49

Now, from what I understand from this email, the federal employees are only given 10 days to make this decision. They have until February 6th from what I understand. This is so complicated that you are going to have an overflood of employees not sure if they can take it. And if they do take it, the government gets to go back and see if you were eligible. Even after you took it, you might have to repay it. Bet, you didn't know that part huh, but they didn't tell you that part huh. Yeah, this is why, if you're a federal employee and you're even contemplating this bullshit, you need to like today, like fucking today. That's why I'm doing this episode today. It's getting released at like as soon as I'm done putting it together, because that's how urgent this is. You guys need to understand. Your window is so fucking limited. You need to get on the horn with a fucking federal employment attorney.

Speaker 1: 29:53

Now, all right, now these VSIPs have a maximum of 25K. Maximum, that's it, maximum. So I don't know where this eight-month total is coming from. They don't have the authority to do that. If your eight-month salary is larger than 25K, I don't know why you would separate.

Speaker 1: 30:30

For me personally, if somebody, if somebody, came to me and said, hey, I'm gonna give you 25k, okay, but I make 100k a year. That's four months of salary. What am I doing's four months of salary? What am I doing with four months of salary? And that's pre-tax? The fuck am I doing with that?

Speaker 1: 30:50

I'm not doing much, I can for sure tell you that. Especially, I mean, yeah, you know, having that federal job looks great on a resume, but have you seen the fucking job market right now? Y'all, no, not for something so certain as a federal employment position. No, I wouldn't be doing it. No, I'd be grasping onto that fucking federal employment like my life depended on it. And that's why these people call the federal employment attorneys to keep their jobs when they get these chapters 43 or chapter 75s right. That's why they sit here and pay thousands of dollars to keep their jobs, because it's that good of a fucking job.

Speaker 1: 31:34

So why somebody would take 25K is beyond comprehension for me. Okay, so now that that's out of the way, you know who's eligible, you know who's not eligible and you know what the maximum payment is right. So I don't know what the fuck this fork in the road email is telling you guys, but it's not some eight month payout. They, by code, can only do 25k as a lump sum. I don't know where the hell they're getting that from. I just don't. They're making it up. It's not real. It's not here, it's not on the OPM website. It's right here Up to $25,000 as an incentive to voluntarily separate when it's authorized by OPM. Right now.

Speaker 1: 32:31

Normally how this fucking works is an agency will say to OPM hey, we're having an issue, ok, we really need to. You know, get, get rid of some people because of our budget. And that happens, right, like that's any job. Right, like if profits didn't meet the last quarter in a private sector, like somebody might lose their job. Right, it happens. But remember, these federal employees are entitled to their positions. So you have to give them some kind of incentive or it has to be defined on how you can remove them. So that's why they offer these voluntary separation, incentive payments, these VSIPs because that way the government doesn't have or the agency doesn't have to go through the arduous process of doing a RIF.

Speaker 1: 33:20

A RIF and I'm going to give you guys a rundown of what a RIF is. It's called a reduction in force. I use a lot of acronyms, it's just habit. After this point, if you have any questions about something and I didn't tell you what it stands for, I'm sorry in advance. Just look it up. I promise it'll come up in Google or again email me. I'm more than happy to respond and engage. So it's a way for the agency to avoid having to do a riff, and that's because riffs can be arduous. There are rounds and riffs and we'll get through those in the next section of this, because that's probably, in my opinion, based on how I've seen this work in the past. That's what's coming. Next are RIFs, and again, this is just speculation, not legal advice, pure speculation. I would lay money that there's going to be an EO ordering RIFs soon.

Speaker 1: 34:23

Alright, because the president's the head of the agencies. This is so fucking stupid anyway. So if you're eligible for the vsip and you decide that the 25k is worth it for you which I have seen what government employees make. I don't know. Anyway, I wouldn't be taking it if it was me. Here's how they compute that VSIP. Okay, an agency computes again this is on the OPM website an agency computes a voluntary separation incentive payment on the basis of the lesser of an amount equal to the amount of severance pay the employee would be entitled to receive, as computed under 5 USC section 5595C, without adjustment for any previous payment made or an amount determined by the agency head not to exceed $25,000. Since OPM says you have to take the lesser of, if you make enough that the $25,000 would be your max max. That's all you're getting, doesn't matter what. It would be computed on under 5 usc 5595c because of number two, that it can't exceed 25k.

Speaker 1: 36:00

Okay, now there's discretionary authority, as with any, any incentive when approved by OPM, authorizing every agency. Yeah, I don't even know how the fuck this is happening, because they're not even authorizing the agencies. They're just making this blanket email. So this blanket email to me is email to me is um, like not, I'm blanking, you can't uphold it, it's not going to stand. Okay, um, we can't find the word I'm looking for. It doesn't matter. This is why I don't practice law anymore, cause I can't find the words Um, but basically it's not OPM that offers the buyout. Okay, opm authorizes the agencies to offer the buyout. Okay, opm doesn't get to tell you okay, oh, yeah, you're eligible for this because you don't know. Your agency knows, okay, that's what you need to understand.

Speaker 1: 37:33

There are repayment requirements attached to this. There are other things attached to this that I would lay money on. That email isn't telling you about which they're supposed to, they're actually required to, but we'll get into that when we get into rifts and removals and all that. So you understand how they work, because that's going to be down the pike if this doesn't get enough of what they want, in my opinion. So there's a repayment requirement, all right.

Speaker 1: 38:09

So an employee who receives a VSIP and later accepts employment for compensation with the government of the United States, within five years of the date of the separation on which the VSIP is based, including work under a personal services contract or other direct contract, must repay the entire amount of the VSIP to the agency that paid it before the individual's first day of employment, if the proposed employment is with an agency other than the General Accounting Office, the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management may, at the request of the head of the agency, waive the repayment if the proposed reemployment is with an executive branch agency. The individual involved possesses unique abilities and is the only qualified applicant available for the position, or in case of emergency involving a direct threat to life or property. The individual A has skills directly related to resolving the emergency and B will serve on a temporary basis only as long as the individual's services remain necessary by the emergency. Those are those non-NSF employees I was touching on in the first section. That's what I'm talking about those emergency employees. Okay, now I'm again running a little short on time in this recording section. So what I want you guys to know is that all of this comes from codes and regulations. The references to which OPM is making in this summary website, whatever page, are 5 USC section 3521, 5 CFR part 576 and 5 USC section 2105. So you can either look up those sections of the CFR in the USC, you can go to opmgov. This section is under the policy data oversight and workforce restructuring. It's right there for anybody to go see.

Speaker 1: 40:30

But again, if you're a federal employee that is being affected by this, my top go-to suggestion for you is going to be to reach out to one of those federal employee law firms, because they're going to be able to help you separate the bullshit and see what actually applies to you, and they're going to be able to look at that specific email and tell you what I'm guessing, because, again, this is all guesses. I haven't seen it, but what I'm guessing is actually going to be upheld and what, just plain old, isn't allowed. So I'm going to take a quick break, get something to drink to wet the whistle, because this is a lot more talk than I usually do for you guys and I will be right back. All right, guys, welcome back to CPTSD and me where we walk our healing journey together. If you're just joining us, we are talking about the current situation with federal employees that they're facing, and I know even a lot of people in the private sector are freaking out because this can have implications on millions of Americans, depending on how this goes.

Speaker 1: 41:48

So, um, one thing that I want to throw out there real quick is I did reach out to, uh, some of the attorneys that I know at um, the law firm I was speaking about in the first section Um, and they said they think it'd be all right if I mentioned them. Um, they, they don't think the founding partner would have an issue with it. So I'm going to go ahead and give you the name of that law firm and the three attorneys that I would recommend you reach out to. The name of the firm is Bell Law Group. They practice in multiple areas, but they have a section of their law firm that is devoted specifically to federal employees. The three attorneys that I would recommend reaching out to are Adam Grogan, daniel Siegel or Porter McHenry. I have personally worked with all three of these gentlemen. They are phenomenal attorneys. If I was a federal employee and I needed help, they would be my first call. So I'm going to include their contact information in the show notes. But again, it's Bell Law Group Adam Grogan, daniel Siegel or Porter McHenry. And if you're private sector, they offer help with private sector employment as well, especially in New York state, so where I'm located. So you know, I kind of have a geographical relation. But yeah, they're, they're phenomenal attorneys. I can't recommend them enough, especially Adam. He was the first attorney to kind of take me under his wing and teach me the basics of what I know. So if you're listening, adam, thank you, appreciate you.

Speaker 1: 43:38

But yeah, let's get back into it. So last section we were talking about VSIPs and I said in the last section that if that doesn't work, my general feeling and opinion is that they're going to move to RIFs next. So a RIF is a reduction in force. So what this is is an agency says to XYZ reason there are rules and regulations regarding how this is done and for brevity I'm not going to get into everything. So again, contact Bell Law Group, those three attorneys that I mentioned Adam, danny or Porter for help, if this applies to you specifically, if this happens. But we're just going to get into the basics of it, not the nitty gritty.

Speaker 1: 44:35

So, like I said, the agency reaches out to OPM and says to OPM, hey, we got to get rid of some of these positions, all right. And OPM says, ok, what's the competitive area? What a competitive area is the portions of the agency that are going to be losing competitive positions? And or what competitive area is gaining position? Now, it doesn't always gain position, okay, so sometimes what I'm talking about is an agency may have too many attorneys in Washington DC, right? So let's say the FBI says we have too many EEOC attorneys in DC. We don't have enough in Baltimore. We're transferring this to this. That would be losing a competitive area and gaining a competitive area.

Speaker 1: 45:39

What I think will happen is, though, is there will be just full agency wide rifts. Will happen is, though, is there will be just full agency wide riffs, and this is allowed under um title five. So title five, part three, 51, is the one that gives all the definitions regarding what a riff is, how it functions, how it works, who it applies to. It is confusing as fuck. So, again, if if you need help with this, reach out to one of those attorneys that I talked about. So what would happen next is OPM would say okay, we need the employees that are eligible. So what this means is any of the employees that have a function that the agency is looking to eliminate. Like I said, you know, maybe, maybe you're a switchboard operator from 1942, and the agency finally got rid of their last switchboard. Well, there's nowhere for you to go right. So they're losing that function, okay. So what they're supposed to do is, if they're losing that function altogether or they have too many in that function, whatever the case, may employee more eligible to stay at the agency in their current position than others.

Speaker 1: 47:15

Tenure, veterans preference there's all sorts of different points and things that go into this, which is why I said I'm not really getting into the weeds of this. Okay, and then there's certain ways that someone can't get removed under a RIF because the agency isn't removing temporary employees, the agency isn't removing XYZ. Again, I'm not getting into the weeds of this, but there are ways in which the agency is not allowed to remove someone even though they are points eligible to be removed because of other positions still within that competitive area. So, um, additionally, under the, the RIF guidelines, there are certain personnel, that personnel that should be put into groups, for example, aljs or administrative law judges, like specialized scientific positions. Think like Q status in the Department of Energy, scientific positions. Think like Q status in the department of energy. Um, shit like that. Um, like these are, these are special, special people, um, that they really probably shouldn't be getting rid of anyway.

Speaker 1: 48:38

But, um, you know there's there's so much of this that goes into it. Length of service credit for performance um, the effective date, you know. Prohibitions you can use furlough instead of enacting the riff. So the the agency can put you on to up to one year of furlough, um, instead of enacting the riff right away. There's just so much nuance to this that it's absurd. So this, in my opinion, is what's going to be coming next, and this is, in my opinion, what's going to be the most confusing and disruptive. Because if I'm looking at what they're doing right now, right, I'm looking at what they're doing right now, right. I'm looking at this fork in the road, fucking email, um, that that quote-unquote opm sent out. Um, they're not going to do this right either. Um, every single time the government tries to do something quick, they fuck it up.

Speaker 1: 49:45

If you're looking for a solid example, look at the COVID vaccine mandate. Um, the COVID vaccine mandate went out and all the agencies all of a sudden started asking people about their religious preferences. You can't do that. It's not allowed. You have to have a reason. It's kind of like it's it's there in the case law. You can't just ask well, do you really believe that? Do you really believe that you can't do that? Because you can't question it unless you have a reason to question it? Out these blanket fucking forms for people to fill out with questions that they just couldn't ask. Right, and regardless of how you feel about the COVID vaccine mandate itself. It needs to be applied correctly. It needs to protect everybody's rights, right? So you know, that's basically what I did was.

Speaker 1: 50:39

You know, there's people that legitimately should not have been getting the vaccine, right. There were people that doctors were saying legitimately, saying, no, I'm concerned about your medical condition, we don't know enough. I don't want you taking this. You know that's not for an agency to decide, that's for a person and their doctor to decide. And the way it's supposed to work is, you know, agencies are supposed to just, you know, assess and see if they can offer accommodation. They're not supposed to question the validity of the medical condition. They're not supposed to question the validity of the religious belief unless they have a legitimate reason to do so. And just putting it on a blank fucking piece of paper with a blank box is not a legitimate reason. So you know that's.

Speaker 1: 51:24

That's the type of work that I did. You know, do it. If you want to do it, that's fine. You know, herd immunity and all that, but it's gotta be done Right. Same fucking thing here. All right, you gotta do it the right way, all right.

Speaker 1: 51:39

So my concern, and what I think the concern of a lot of America is right now is every time we do these quick action things like like take, for example, this quote unquote buyout the VSIP that they're offering from OPM Right. From what I've heard, they're offering that eight months, right, but the regulations don't allow for that. So you're only giving federal employees 10 days to do this. So what my thought is about what's going on in the background, knowing about how the steps work, is they're already planning the rifts. If I had to take a guess, the head of every agency is being told right now that rifts are coming next and they need to start getting their competitive areas ready and get their list of employees ready. So, because what can happen is the agency can prepare all this stuff before the reduction in force is actually announced, usually when it needs to be done quickly. This is what happens. So it's even in the part 351 that that I was mentioning just a few minutes ago. It's there like it tells them how to do it quickly. Whether or not they can read is yet to be seen, given everything that's going on, but my guess is they're going to fuck this up. Every single time they try to do something quick, they fuck it up. So, um, again, I apologize for the profanity, but this is just beyond anything that that I have ever seen in my lifetime. So I just were free flowing today.

Speaker 1: 53:36

So Rifts are also tricky because when you riff someone, if someone ends up getting removed, right, and they go to apply to another agency, they get special preference when applying to that agency. And when you apply to a federal agency, there's things that you got to understand, just like when in the RIF, and there are certain people that get special preference. There are certain people that get special preference when you get hired at all. Veterans preference is the one that's just commonly fucking known. They are put on their own separate hiring list and when these positions are put out, they have to compile lists and ranking lists of people that are eligible for the position, and veterans preference employees are not supposed to be included in the in-agency list. So what I mean is, if an opening comes for a position and you have a vet leaving the military wanting to go into federal service, you have a RIF employee who lost their position, but now a position with the same function is open in the government and you have Andrea Ennis, private citizen off the street, applying, right, they compile all these people. Okay, all these people go into a pool and what they have to do is they have to separate out those people into those separate lists the vet preference lists, the RIF preference list and the general hiring. When you consider those lists, you're supposed to take the top applicants because it's supposed to be organized that way.

Speaker 1: 56:12

An agency isn't allowed to say we hired this person over this person on the list because they have that preference, because they're not supposed to be on the same list. Does that make sense? So you can't offer an interview to only the vet. You have to pick people from all three lists and then it's merit based, ok. So I actually had a case like this where I actually ripped the agency a new asshole and got them to admit they were lying because a new asshole and got them to admit they were lying because they didn't do this right.

Speaker 1: 56:46

So it's the same concept here and this is where it's going to get confusing and this is where you're going to start getting these nasty lawsuits that go on for years and years because there's in-agency employees excuse me that are also allowed to apply for these open positions, right. So now there's four lists. It's kind of like that with the RIFs, there's all these lists, okay, and if you are an employee that gets RIFT and you go to apply to another agency, you might think, hey, I was a RIFT employee, they have to hire me. They might not have to Based on those vet preference points, because they get points assigned to them. You know things, everybody gets points. It's wild, anyway. So this is getting a little murky. But the point being is that anybody that's Rift is supposed to get the benefit of an advanced placement at the top of the hiring list, kind of deal, all right. At the top of the hiring list, kind of deal, all right. So if what I think is going to happen happens, you're going to have people that are getting removed under a riff when they're not supposed to.

Speaker 1: 58:15

Now here's where this gets tricky when an employee is removed from service and that employee feels that the removal was based on a protected class and this is part of the reason why I think they're trying to do away with the EEO case law is because you get these things called mixed cases. This is a removal. Technically, removals and employment actions not based on protected classes generally have appeal rights to the MSPB. I didn't deal a lot with RIFs so I'm not going to speak to this because I don't know. I don't know if there's an appealable right, I don't know how it works specifically for RIF employees as far as that goes, but there are appeal rights for these actions. Um, there's an IRA, which is an individual right to appeal. There's the um office of special counsel, there's all sorts of shit. So those would those would go to the MSPB.

Speaker 1: 59:32

But then you get into these um things called mixed cases, where an employee says well, I was supposed to have more points, but they don't like me because I'm a woman. Well, now you have a mixed case. So was the removal action based on the fact that you were a woman, or was the removal action based on the fact that it was a riff and it just so happened? You're a woman, so you have to have proof, proof, obviously, and all these other things. And that's where it gets really lost in the weeds and that's where it gets more complicated. But now you also have um, labor-friendly uh board members being removed by president trump. So now we're gonna get into issues where you think the Supreme Court, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter anymore, that kind of shit, like we can just say this isn't what the founders intended and this is going to get messy, guys, I can't express to you.

Speaker 1: 1:00:40

I know the point of this podcast is to calm y'all down, all right, and that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to explain the process to you so you can be prepared, so you can know what's coming Right and you can. You can know where to look for the information and who to call if you need help, because right now, all I see is people panicking. Okay, and it breaks my heart because I live with that panic every fucking day Good, honest Americans trying to work for our government, to make us a better country, and just have it be overrun by this Heritage Foundation. Bullshit is killing me and I can't stay quiet anymore and I'll say it in the episode on Friday, so you'll hear this again Resistance, resist. The episode on Friday, so you'll hear this again resistance, resist. And if this is the little bit of resistance that I can give you guys is the knowledge to fight back, god damn it. That's what I'm going to do and I'm going to give you the resources on who to call to help you further. All right, because the best way that you can prevent trauma is to prepare right and have patience and not react immediately.

Speaker 1: 1:02:09

Okay, so that's what I'm trying to help you guys do. I'm trying to help you guys not immediately react. I'm trying to give you guys the whole fucking picture so you understand the government's not going to stop working tomorrow, so that federal employees that are listening to this know they're not going to lose their job tomorrow. And if you do, there is recourse and, by God, I will tell you any avenue I can to help you find that recourse, even though I can't personally help anyone anymore by actually practicing. By God. I'm going to tell you where to find the law, because it's publicly available. That's not legal advice. And I'm going to tell you fucking who to go to for the actual legal advice, and that's Adam Grogan, danny Siegel and Porter McHenry at the Bell Law Group, because they know their shit All right. And Porter McHenry at the Bell Law Group because they know their shit All right.

Speaker 1: 1:03:12

So, all in all, to summarize, a RIF is basically a way for them to reduce the workforce. It's not to get rid of the entire workforce. It's a way for them to reduce the workforce and it's not based on anything that they answer on some fucking questionnaire Like you know what's your political affiliation? They can't do that. It should all be based on what's already in their OPF or their official personnel file, or EOPF as you might hear it electronic official personnel file, that's it. They don't get to say, oh so you don't like President Trump? Well, you're in the rift now. No, elon Musk, I hope you're fucking listening. No, you can't. You don't get to. Piece of fucking shit. Anyway, the point is, if these rifts go through which I think they will, based on what I know of how these work and behind the scenes shit they're already working on it. So after February 6th, I would not be surprised to find another email in your email box about riffs.

Speaker 1: 1:04:22

Now, this is where I really want you guys to take a breath. Even if you're riffed, okay, even if, for some reason, you lose your job, you have recourse. There are avenues, there are resources. Even if you necessarily can't afford an attorney, maybe your case is solid enough for a contingency case. I'm not sure if Bell does contingency, but maybe your case is solid enough for a contingency case. I'm not sure if Bell does contingency, but you know, maybe your case is that rock solid.

Speaker 1: 1:05:05

Don't not reach out because you don't think you are going to be eligible for help, don't not reach out because you don't think you can afford it. There are resources available and there are ways to get help. You will not be abandoned by us. I refuse to go down quietly and I refuse to go down without a fight, and you should too. And that's the point. We have strength that these motherfuckers ain't given us credit for, and it's exactly what I told the CEO of the firm that I left. I said you don't know. I said you mis-underestimate the people with PTSD, the people that have trauma. I said because we remember better, because we have experienced worse, don't fuck with us. So with that, I'm going to take another quick break and we'll be right back with some wrap ups. Thanks guys for still being here and welcome back.

Speaker 1: 1:06:13

So what I want to do now is I just want to go through quickly the ways a federal employee is able to be removed legally, just so you're aware of some fuckery that somebody might use. So chapter 43 and chapter 75 are performance and conduct based removals respectively. So chapter 43 deals with performance based. There are rules regarding what someone is allowed to consider before a removal is proposed for performance. So an employee has to have, you know, obviously, a low performance evaluation. An employee has to have, you know, obviously, a low performance evaluation. Um, but primarily, what the agency needs to make sure that they do is give the employee ample opportunity to improve their performance. So, even if you fucked something up, unless it fucked it up so bad that you can't be redeemed and they have to say that in the proposed removal, they can't just fire you. Okay, so basically, what would happen is, if it was that egregious, it would probably be under 75, which is conduct. So a conduct removal is probably one of the easier ways for a federal employee to be removed, actually instead of performance.

Speaker 1: 1:07:49

Believe it or not, this is because words can get twisted, actions can be taken the wrong way, whereas performance is pretty regulated. There are certain things that each agency needs to look at, including the job description for the employee, things like that. Whereas with conduct, there's usually a table that every agency has. It's called a table of penalties. Um, you can ask your agency for it. You can ask them just say, hey, where's our table of penalties for, uh, chapter 75? And if they have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, call bell law group, call adam, call danny, call porter, um, they'll give you a hand, um, so, like, if you're a federal employee and you're being fucked with in any way, um, or you think you're being fucked with in any way, I would really call them just for a consult to go over some stuff now so you know where you're at and you know what your future options might be based on X, y, z action, should they happen. So, like I said, those chapter 43 and chapter 75, those are the ones that primarily the agencies use for those removal actions.

Speaker 1: 1:09:14

Now, there are a couple of other little nuances that don't come up often, but they do come up, and those are security clearance positions. Security clearance positions are weird because you have to obviously get your clearance through yada yada yada, through yada yada yada, and, from what I understand, the way that they used to do this was they would propose your removal and then suspend your security clearance. There were issues with that, though I don't remember what all the issues were. Um, there was a really great attorney, heather, that I had a con I sat in on a consult with and she told me exactly what it was, and it was years ago, I can't remember, but the point is is that they flipped it, because what they can do if they flip it is remove you from the position immediately. If they do a proposed removal and then do your clearance, they have to keep you in the position.

Speaker 1: 1:10:25

But if they remove the security clearance first and it's a required element for your position you no longer meet the requirements for the position. They can remove you. This is under 5 USC Section 7532. You basically get charged with security issues, okay, and that goes to the security clearance people, and they suspend your security clearance. Okay, the security clearance gets suspended. Well, now you no longer have an active security clearance. Now they can put you on administrative leave until your thing gets cleared. And the thing with administrative leave, it's indefinite. They can just kind of keep you on it, because until your security clearance gets cleared up, you're fucked. So that's that.

Speaker 1: 1:11:25

Those are really the the true other ways that you know, I'm aware of where those removals can come quicker, based on, like, national security issues. Um, again, it's not it's not everyone that needs a security clearance um, that they'll do this to, obviously, um, but if an agency wants someone gone, they now have an easier route to get them out of their hair and away from them. Because most of the time, what happens? These people can't afford to be on administrative leave indefinitely. They're working, it's their job, it's their livelihood, so it usually forces them to quit, and then the agency doesn't have a removal and then the agency doesn't have to go through the MSPB. Now I'm sure you're sitting here saying well, what about constructive removal? No, constructive removal is one of the hardest things to ever argue in front of the MSPB. It rarely works.

Speaker 1: 1:12:29

The MSPB is the Merit System Protection Board, by the way. They're the ones that protect the jobs of the federal employees from those removal actions and rifts and whistleblower complaints and all that those removal actions and rifts and whistleblower complaints and all that. Now, one thing that I will mention is unions. There are some positions in the federal government that are covered under unions, which is great. I love unions. Unions were the compromise. I say that in the Friday episode.

Speaker 1: 1:13:01

I am a full-hearted activist for unions, especially after working in the trenches with the federal government, because it doesn't let them fuck with you as bad. Because they have to go through the agency and they have to get the collective bargaining agreement or the CBA, and the agency has to abide by the CBA. Now here's where it gets tricky. Postal employees are covered under union and they're also federal employees. Any agency other than the USPS has to choose one avenue of redress Either they file a union grievance or they go through the other administrative channel to fight the removal. Okay and that's a real quick way to get your case tossed at MSPB is if you went through the grievance process and it was remedied through it, the MSPB will say you've exhausted your administrative remedies, you're out. This does not apply to USPS employees. Usps employees are the only federal employees that are allowed to take both.

Speaker 1: 1:14:13

So before you take any action, whether you want to make a union grievance, whether you want to file an MSP appeal, whatever you want to do or fight the removal on your own, whatever the case may be, I would highly suggest that you contact Bell Law Group and see what your options are and what the ramifications of each option are, because there's consequences to everything. Nothing in life is perfect, but there is going to be a better avenue for you based on your circumstances, and I can tell you that for a fact. I dealt with those cases day in, day out and it broke my heart every time I had to tell somebody. Well, you filed this union grievance. I can't help you. So before you do shit, talk to your union steward and talk to a federal employment attorney.

Speaker 1: 1:15:04

So before I wrap everything up for today, here's a quick summary of what we've talked about the takeaways, really the takeaways really. The buyout fork in the road email, the VSIP email that OPM sent out. If it is saying what I have heard, it is saying that you get eight months. They have no legal authority to offer you that. So you need to go to the OPM website and I will be including as many links as I can in the show notes for this. You need to go to the OPM website and see what they are allowed to do with these buyouts. That's your first step. If you're a federal employee employee, your next step call a federal employment attorney for a consult. Call Bell Law Group. Email Adam Grogan, daniel Siegel or Porter McHenry. The second you get anything from them, your clock starts.

Speaker 1: 1:16:28

I need you guys to understand this. There are very strict deadlines with what you are allowed to file and what you are not allowed to file regarding these removal actions and All right, and these buyout, these VSIPs and stuff. Okay, what I need you guys to understand is you are running your clock as of right now. That's why I'm doing this episode now, releasing it now, before the Friday weekly. It is that fucking important that you guys hear this. You need to act now. You need to make the calls. You need to do it now. If you have any reason to believe that you are targeted because of your race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, sex, whatever the case may be, whatever the protected class may be and it has to be a protected class you need to act now. You will run out your clock faster than you think.

Speaker 1: 1:17:34

If you have gotten any type of proposed removal or notice of proposed removal, your clock's running the second that paper hits your hand and you sign it. And it doesn't matter if you refuse to sign it. By the way, it doesn't do shit. Stop fighting them about signing the goddamn papers. You're not doing anything other than pissing them off. Just sign it. Take the paper and walk out. Keep your mouth shut. That's not legal advice, that's just common goddamn sense. You not signing that doesn't mean it's not going in your OPF. They issued it. It's there already.

Speaker 1: 1:18:10

It's just a matter or not if you sign the paper, because all they're going to do is put, refuse to sign, and it's going in the OPF anyway, in the OPF anyway. That's just fact. So stop it. You're making your attorneys lives harder by being obstinate. Stop it. You don't know more than them. I promise you that. Stop it. Stop being obstinate just to be obstinate and think you're doing something.

Speaker 1: 1:18:39

That is not the path of resistance. The path of resistance is fighting back in the legal avenues that you have in which to do it. Okay, the resistance is saying no, put me on a competitive area list, you're going to have to get rid of me. You gonna have to get rid of me Because that's what they're trying to do right now. They're trying to reduce the workforce so that it looks like everybody did it voluntarily and everybody's happy. Because if they go through the rifts which they're coming I promise you they're coming it's gonna look worse than even this does right now and with everything going on, this will be a powder keg. And I don't want you guys in that powder keg. Okay, because if you're in that powder keg and it blows, all you're going to be doing is yourself a disservice, because you won't have the protections that you should have because you didn't resist in the right way. Okay, resistance is crucial. Resistance is not futile. Resistance is crucial, but it's crucial even more so that you do it in the right way.

Speaker 1: 1:20:04

And that's why I want you guys to remember, if you're a federal employee and you got this email, pick up the phone and call someone that can help you, and I promise you it's not your supervisor, I promise you it's not OPM, because, as of right now, based on what I've heard, this email says OPM ain't the OPM, that it was, at least not when I was practicing law and dealing with OPM on a daily basis, because I did. I dealt with OPM. I hated dealing with OPM, but I dealt with them. You know there's lots of different things that OPM covers and if you're a federal employee, you're doing yourself a disservice by not knowing what they cover and not knowing the processes that are available to you. So that's what I'm trying to give you guys right now are resources so you can help yourself.

Speaker 1: 1:21:08

I'm trying to give the general public breathing room, that everything isn't going to fall apart more than it already is just because of this, okay, more than it already is just because of this, okay. These federal employees, guys and I'm speaking to the, to everyone else other than the federal employees. Right now, guys, these federal employees deal with the red tape every fucking day Okay, every day, and these guys are masters at dealing with the red tape. Ok, so, when you keep that in mind, most of the time the supervisory people don't know all the ins and outs. People don't know all the ins and outs, but the lifelong federal employee has probably seen as much, if not more, than I have.

Speaker 1: 1:22:11

Okay, if you are one of those federal employees, help your other coworkers. Please tell them, if they think they're being discriminated against, to go to the EEOC office and do an informal complaint. Tell them. You know what you know what you've experienced. This is the time to talk.

Speaker 1: 1:22:32

Ok, because, from what I'm under, what I'm seeing on the federal subreddits that I belong to is that they're releasing this information. There are employees speaking out. There are employees saying what's happening at OPM right now and they're getting emails telling them not to talk about it anymore, not to post on these subreddits anymore. You want to know why? Because they're scared. Because the more people know that they're fucking things up, the more people will pay attention, and that's what we need right now. This is the stuff that we need to be paying attention to Okay, because everything else will fall apart.

Speaker 1: 1:23:17

If the inner workings fall apart first, every protection we have, every dollar that we get, every tax dollar we pay, it's all gonna crash. We have to protect our federal workers right now. Guys, as a public, we have to be the ones that stand up for them right now. Okay, and I know, I know, I know, I know, I know we all have our own shit going on right. We all got our own demons, we've all got our own traumas, whatever. But right now is so crucial for us to stand up in one voice and say enough, leave these fucking people alone. They're doing their jobs, that's it. They're just trying to make sure that America works tomorrow, and that's that patience that I'm talking about all the time Is that tomorrow's gonna come. You just gotta wait and see what it brings.

Speaker 1: 1:24:26

But waiting doesn't mean doing nothing. Waiting means preparing, waiting means watching, waiting means finding the time to speak up and, because of my unique circumstances, this is my time. This is my time to stand up and say enough, and I'm gonna keep probably doing these because I I can't let what happened to me in my life prevent me from doing the right thing, and that's the journey that we're all on right. That's why you're listening. Right, because our bodies try to protect us. Our bodies want us to recoil from that confrontation, right, but we, as traumatized people or someone that you love that has been traumatized, we're so scared of that authority, we're so scared of what the consequences might be, because we've dealt with the worst of the consequences position to be listened to when we do speak. Because when we choose to speak, it's usually crucial that we're doing so. It's usually vital and life-saving that we're doing so.

Speaker 1: 1:25:53

So that's what I want you guys to do. I want you to be patient, I want you to watch. I want you to be patient, I want you to watch and I want you to prepare and I want you guys to take the steps that you need to take to protect yourselves. If you need to shut the fucking news off, because chat is blowing up with people with the gossip of what they hear is going on and yada, yada, yada, and it's too much for you, mute it for a couple hours, but just keep watching. Okay, you guys are going to get through this. Everybody Public, fed, employees, it doesn't matter, you're going to get through. I know from the hundreds of amazing federal employees that I have had the blessing to speak to that we're in good hands.

Speaker 1: 1:26:54

The people that are actually doing the work are the correct people. It's the people at the top that have no fucking clue what they're doing. So that's why I'm speaking out to let you know they're wrong, they're fucking stupid and they have zero clue how any of this actually works. And if they were smart, they'd stop walling off the people that speak out against it and actually listen to what the fuck they're saying. Because those people that are speaking out against it and saying, no, you can't do this. No, this is wrong. They're right. You can't do this. You're doing it the wrong way, and that's why I keep saying Elon Musk, I hope you're fucking listening, because your brain trust sucks, bro. Whoever you got at the top right now ain't leading you the right way, bro, because this ain't it.

Speaker 1: 1:27:48

If you want government efficiency, you don't get rid of the people running the fucking government, the real people running the government, not the people that stand at the top and sit there and wave and smile and say I'm doing this for you, because they're not. They're not, they're helping themselves. The people that are actually working for us. The American people are those Fed employees they're trying to fuck over right now, and that's why we have to do something. That's why we have to say something. We have to stand up for them, even though it hurts us and even though it's scary as hell. We have to Okay, we have to resist or this we're going to fall. Guys, I've studied rises and falls of civilizations. If we don't do something now, it's gonna fall.

Speaker 1: 1:28:44

And I refuse to be silent, and I know all of you people that have had these horrible things happen to you are scared. But silence fixes nothing, because the more you feel, the more you heal. I say it every time Feeling that fear and owning that fear is how you get better. So stand up, take a stand for what is right, post those fucking videos on social media, say everything you want to goddamn say, because now is the time, guys, guys, now is the time to speak up. Speak up for those federal workers, speak up for yourselves as federal workers.

Speaker 1: 1:29:33

I really, really, really appreciate you guys being here with me today, and I'm sorry this episode's kind of all over the place, but it was a free flow one. I didn't have anything prepared, but I love you guys immensely. I am here for you. I will put these out as I can. I just don't quit. Don't give up, because when we give up they win. Don't give up because when we give up, they win. This has been Andrea Ennis, your host at CPTSD and me for this special federal employee episode. Thank you so much for being here with me on this walking journey today and remember the more you feel, the more you heal. Catch that new episode coming out on Friday, january 31st, and I'll see you guys next time.