President Trump signed an executive order on June 3 that moved approximately 8,000 federal employees into a new employment category called Schedule Policy/Career, stripping them of long-standing civil service protections and making them at-will employees who can be fired without cause.
Quick Facts
- Nearly 97% of affected positions are at the GS-15 level or above, the highest ranks of the career civil service.
- Affected employees lose the right to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
- Reclassified workers will become ineligible for student loan repayment, recruitment, and retention incentives.
- Federal unions and good government groups have filed lawsuits challenging the policy as unconstitutional.
The order formalizes months of planning by the Trump administration to revive a policy originally known as Schedule F, which Trump attempted during his first term. The Office of Personnel Management finalized regulations for Schedule Policy/Career in February 2026, and the executive order on Wednesday completed the process needed for agencies to begin reclassifying workers.
The affected positions include leaders of agency subcomponents and divisions, heads of regional offices, chief information officers, senior human resources officials, agency deputies and chiefs of staff, senior program managers, and high-level attorneys involved in policy development and budget decisions. The White House published a detailed appendix listing all positions subject to reclassification.
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Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor said the move aims to improve accountability and ensure federal workers carry out the president’s policy agenda. “What Schedule Policy/Career does is really nothing new,” Kupor told reporters. “In order to affect the policy priorities of the administration, we need to have people willing to and capable of carrying out those directives.”
The Trump administration has characterized the reclassification as necessary for government efficiency, but critics argue it will damage the nonpartisan civil service. Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the move eliminates due process rights and will make workers afraid to report waste, fraud, and mismanagement. “Workers who once felt comfortable reporting waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at their place of employment because they were protected from retaliation will now be afraid for their jobs if they speak out,” Kelley said.
The 8,000 positions targeted represent far fewer than the Office of Personnel Management initially estimated in April 2025, when it projected about 50,000 positions could be reclassified. Earlier estimates had suggested as many as 200,000 positions might be converted. The administration has not ruled out expanding the pool at a later date.
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed challenging Schedule Policy/Career. Plaintiffs argue the policy violates due process rights, exceeds presidential authority, and contradicts the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Democracy Forward, one of the organizations suing the administration, stated that when government experts can be fired without cause, it harms the people across the country who rely on federal services. The litigation is expected to eventually reach the Supreme Court.
Sources
- Federal News Network — executive order details, employee protections stripped, OPM estimates, union and stakeholder criticism.
- NPR — executive order signing, at-will employee status, civil service protections removed, policy history, litigation details.
- The White House — official executive order text and policy framework.
