r/FedEmployees

I feel like quitting everything, selling everything, and starting over again, which is not new to me. I want nature, I want mountains, Stockholm Syndrome is real!

Last week, my husband of 13 years passed away unexpectedly. I found him unresponsive at home. We have an 8-year-old daughter, and our entire world has been turned upside down.
The morning he passed away, I notified my supervisor through the appropriate channels that I would not be coming to work.
Less than 12 hours after I found my husband, my manager sent me a message offering brief condolences and asking me to let him know when I was available for a phone call. A couple of hours later, I told him I could talk, believing he was calling to explain my bereavement benefits or to ask if there was anything I needed.
Instead, after briefly saying he was sorry for my loss, he immediately switched to administrative matters. He asked what type of leave I wanted to use since I had missed work that day and would “probably” miss the following day as well.
I was in complete shock. My response was simply, “I don’t care. Use whatever leave you want. I can’t think right now.”
He then asked how many days I planned to be out because he needed to know for staffing purposes. I explained that my husband’s body was still with the Medical Examiner and that I couldn’t even schedule funeral services because I didn’t know when he would be released. He asked me to give him an update after the weekend, and I told him I would try.
My husband’s funeral services took place a few days later. My manager attended one of the services, so he knew exactly when my husband was being laid to rest.
A couple of days later, he contacted me again. During the call, he asked how I was doing. I told him I was not okay and that I was simply trying to stay strong for my daughter. After another brief expression of sympathy, he immediately returned to administrative matters.
He told me that because I had not called him with an update, and because bereavement leave had ended, he expected me to provide a return-to-work date. I apologized and explained that the day he expected me to call was the day I buried my husband and that I didn’t have the emotional or physical energy to make phone calls.
His response was, “I know, but I needed to know because I have to plan staffing.”
I apologized again. He asked when I planned to return to work, and I told him I hoped to return the following week if I felt emotionally able. He simply said, “Okay,” and ended the conversation.
These phone calls have added tremendous stress during the worst week of my life. At no point did I feel genuine compassion, empathy, or concern for my well-being. Instead, I felt pressured to focus on staffing while I was still trying to process the sudden loss of my husband, plan his funeral, and help my young daughter cope with losing her father.
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident.
Before my husband’s passing, I had already experienced concerns with this manager regarding my use of leave. On one occasion, he asked me to reschedule a specialist appointment for my daughter because he did not want me taking the day off, even though we had been waiting months for that appointment.
He also commented that I was using “quite a bit” of leave and mentioned that some employees develop patterns of requesting leave around holidays. I explained that I make every effort to be dependable and that I use leave responsibly. When I have appointments for myself or family members, I usually schedule them so I only need a few hours away from work rather than taking an entire day. I intentionally try to conserve my leave and have rarely called in sick except when I was genuinely ill or had no other option.
Later that day, he again brought up employees who take leave around holidays or vacations, even though I told him that description did not apply to me.
A coworker has encouraged me to contact both my union and Human Resources because she believes my manager’s conduct has created a hostile work environment.
I understand that managers have staffing responsibilities. However, there is a time, a place, and a compassionate way to have those conversations. Calling me less than 12 hours after I found my husband to discuss leave, and then expecting me to call on the day I buried him to provide a return-to-work date, felt incredibly insensitive and lacking in empathy.
I have continued to replay these conversations in my mind because they have caused me additional pain during a time when I am simply trying to survive, grieve the loss of my husband, and be strong for my daughter.
I would genuinely appreciate hearing from others. Would you report this to your union or Human Resources? Do you believe this conduct was inappropriate, or am I overreacting?

I don’t check my bank often but why is every paycheck branded as coming into my Navy Federal account from them and not the US government? Am I missing something here? Am I no longer a federal employee?

Seeing lots of chatter about jobs being posted again but isn’t there still a hiring freeze? I’m personally looking to jump ship from DHS and go to a different agency where my KSAs will be better appreciated. Interested in USDA, HHS, and Energy. I would normally say EPA but under Trump EPA is a hot mess. I used to be a DOI employee but I’ll never touch anything in that department again due to discriminatory labor practices.

Here’s a Supreme Court Slaughter decision nightmare/possible future. Imagine a mob boss as an independent agency chief.

CFPB: Nice little bank account you got here . . . Shame if anything were to happen to it

NTSB: Nice safe car/airplane/bus you got here . . . Shame if anything were to happen to it

SSA: Nice little retirement stability you got here . . . Shame if anything were to happen to it

FTC, FEC, MSPB, etc.

What’s your example/nightmare?

A friend of mine is seeking an attorney who has successful track record in bringing a civil rights/ EEO claim against a federal agency. (ADA falls under civil rights/ EEO.) My friend received management approval for critically necessary medical treatment, but nevertheless was suspended and threatened with termination for violating FEMA travel policy. My friend resigned rather than be terminated, which I wish they had not done, as being illegally terminated would have made for a stronger case. My friend was a high-performing member of the team and really needs a financial win here. Has anyone who has run afoul of this administration had luck fighting back with an attorney or firm? I know the courts are horribly backed up....

I requested a desk audit because I am doing higher graded work and want to be evaluated properly, I know audits haven’t gone in folks favor in the past but I genuinely believe my work is supervisory and I’m only as 12. Are there any HR professionals that can tell me if HR is gaslighting me. They say even if my grade is higher they can only give me one grade up as a promotion in the result of an audit. Like what. I thought those were separate actions
? Help!

Hello all. I’m currently going into my second year of college and have stumbled across a program through the DoD(W) that pays for all my school and also grants me a yearly stipend which would allow me to get my final 2 years and a masters for free. The catch is that I have to work for the DoD(W) for ~4 years.

Pushing the current political mayhem aside, what are the benefits and drawbacks of a federal government job? I’ve heard some such as good benefits but lower salary, but I would like to know if there are anymore that aren’t so obvious.

Also this would be a DoD(W) civilian job, not some commitment to serve in the military.

I turned 62 the first week of June, 2026. I still received the supplement on my 07/01/26 payment. I will start receiving SS in August for the month of July (my first eligible month). It was my understanding that the supplement was supposed to end the month prior to my turning 62. Does anyone here have any experience with this? Are they going to create an over payment and deduct it from a subsequent payment? Thanks in Advance.

Since the 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence is tomorrow, it's worthwhile to shine light on how people's freedoms have been squashed by greed. The current administration ran on the platform of being the "patriot party" but everything they have done has only helped the upper class. They won votes by saying "government got too big and those evil democrats and deep state are trying to take away all your freedoms". Though, the founding fathers likely wouldn't be on board with having corporate overlords be in charge of everything and calling all the shots either.

This back to office 100% of the time push is only being shoved down everyone's throats to help those with big investments in office buildings and the surrounding areas. They don't want to spend their own money to make the buildings anything else, but they certainly are on board with screwing over working parents and everyone else who has benefitted so much from telework and hybrid work settings just to keep their fortunes in tact. Telework saves space, time and money across the board. Receiving higher productivity out of a happier workforce allowed to telework all while saving money on operating costs is literally the definition of efficiency. Maybe that's why GSA took out the words "effective and efficient" from it's mission statement a little over a month ago.

The American people don't see a dime from all the recent federal building sales nor do they benefit from expensive office renovations. The people can't use these office buildings and they don't benefit from their values rising, so, why would they be excited to hear that hundreds of millions of taxdollars is being spent by agencies to do all this office renovation work? This is all being expedited to ensure utilization rates are met, thereby, ensuring surrounding property values don't keep declining. The people working in the agencies actually prefer smaller offices and hybrid settings that don't require permanent full time cubes of confinement for every single person but this admin doesn't care about that!

The Administrator from the government's largest landlord, GSA, is really hyping up all these costly building renovations just to remain federal office space. He says how invigorated the American people will be once they see all these office renovations. Sir, this isn't what the people want, it's not even what the people who work at that agency want. Let's call this song and dance for what it really is...these projects aren't for the American people as you say they are, they're projects to help a small percentage of the American people who have hefty real estate portfolios and cannot fathom the possibility of losing some of their fortune because office buildings became a good investment of the past.

At a Senate hearing in May, Administrator Forst asked that the project threshold that needs to be approved by Congress before moving forward be increased from just under $4M to $75M. The article linked to this post states that federal buildings directly impact values of properties around them. Could this be the use of taxpayer dollars to increase the value of surrounding properties and boost confidence in commercial office buildings without needing to dip into private accounts? This guy in charge of GSA is a former executive from a fortune 500 real estate company and has just created a crap ton of deputy assistant positions that are being filled by a bunch of people from real estate giants to work at GSA. Hm, I wonder what the angle is?

This is just another case of using public money to bail out "too big to fail" private investment companies. These people will just continue to tell us all how we work best. They're just going to keep telling the working people "you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit" so they can keep on doing whatever the hell they please lavishly. In the spirit of this weekend, what would our founding fathers want us to do?

I just received a WRI to step 7. A QSI may be in the works to step 8. Is this possible being right on top of one another?

Recently got a job offer from the private sector that would be great for my professional development and a resume booster. My current job is pretty boring, does not allow for telework, like most everyone else, and there are no openings where I am for my profession, so there is nowhere to move. The private sector job offer will allow a bit of telework, shift start/end flexibility, but not as generous with the leave I currently get. I have 16 years in federal service and in my late 40’s. I’m thinking I’ll leave for the opportunity and come back eventually. Thoughts? Tips?

I work for the IRS and we usually get paid on Saturday(Monday). Since today is the 3rd, which is a bank holiday, has anyone gotten paid yet today? I have not.