Public Employees Deserve Legal Protection
PEER counsels conscientious public employees facing career-changing moments of both crises and opportunity. We work on many fronts to protect public servants, specializing in whistleblower protections, First Amendment rights, and civil service laws. PEER plays an invaluable role in the environmental movement and in how the government operates. We aim to stop the assault on the government workforce and to give voice to the public servants who are working for transparency and accountability in government.
Across the country, those charged with protecting our environment are the victims of harassment, threats, assault, and intimidation both in the field and in the office.
PEER is there to protect conscientious public employees facing adverse consequences for simply doing their jobs.
LAWSUIT: Trump’s executive order to fire government workers is illegal
Trump’s order, nearly identical to his previous Schedule F executive order in 2020, would lay the groundwork to convert a huge percentage of the federal civil service from employees who can only be fired for cause to at-will employees who can be fired for any reason at all.
NEWS FROM PEER
EPA Alone Pursues Discipline Against Federal Workers Who Signed Dissent Letter
FEMA, NIH, NSF, and NASA Took No Action or Reversed Discipline Against Letter Signers
Sharp Dropoff in EPA Scientific Publications
Fewer Scientists and Tighter Restrictions under Trump
Yellowstone Workers and Families in Toxic Housing
Lead-Based Paint Hazards Remain Unabated in Many Housing Units
Massive Interior Reorg Fails to Show Promised Savings
Agency Has No Records of “Significant Efficiencies” from Restructuring
Blockbuster New Documents Show EPA Employees Should Never Have Been Fired
Attorneys Urge Charges Be Dropped and Employees Reinstated
Newly released EPA Documents Support Employees Free Speech Rights
Fired EPA Employees Targeted for Exercising Constitutional Rights
Public Service Organizations and Unions File Updated Legal Challenge to Trump-Vance Administration Effort that Seeks to Make it Easier to Fire Civil Servants
New Final Rule Undermines Congress’ Clear Mandate to Create a Nonpartisan and Merit-Based Civil Service
When Government Silences Its Own Workers, We All Lose
If agencies are allowed to punish speech they don’t like — especially when it touches on identity, science, or environmental protection — silence becomes the norm. And when silence becomes normal, everyone loses.
Park Ranger Fired for Hanging Trans Pride Flag Sues Interior Department
Lawsuit Seeks to Protect Free Speech and Other Rights
PEER Sues EPA After Agency Fails to Produce Evidence to Back up Zeldin’s Defamatory Remarks Against EPA Staff
Claims of Widespread Absenteeism and Ghost Employees Unsupported
Webinar | Public Employees, Free Speech, and the Rise of Authoritarianism
Join public employees and legal experts for a timely examination of the increasingly complex legal, political, and social landscape impacting federal and state employees’ free speech rights.
Trump admin clips EPA oversight amid deregulatory blitz
In a complaint filed last April, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility accused EPA of violating federal law by idling some workers indefinitely because of their purported connection to environmental justice work. The group asked the U.S. Office of Special...
Federal Employee First Amendment Lawsuit Advances
Right of Federal Workers to Engage in Off-Duty Activism at Stake
At Least $10 Billion Was Spent on Paying Federal Staff to Do Nothing in 2025
Trump’s Profligate Use of Paid Administrative Leave Violated Legal Limits
Letter re: Trump plan for NPS employee performance rating limits
Letter in opposition to Trump Administration’s reported plan to impose artificial limits on performance ratings for National Park Service employees
EPA Employees Challenge Firings for Signing Dissent Letter
Truth Is Not a Fireable Offense for Federal Employees
Confronting the Rise of Authoritarianism
The the fate of our work protecting public employees and the environment is dependent on our ability to combat the rise in authoritarianism and promote democratic values in our country.
Unpaid Federal Employees Denied Time Off to Vote
Trump Reversal of Time-Off Policy Aggravates Shutdown Inequities
What RIF Notices Mean for Federal Employees
Mass firings won’t meaningfully reduce the federal budget, but they will strip federal agencies of invaluable expertise and leadership.
Shutdown Could Provide Glimpse into the Future of Public Lands
The Department of Interior is gearing up to slash its workforce, and as past shutdowns indicate, this means danger ahead for our parks and public lands.