President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reclassifying about 8,000 federal employees into a new employment category called Schedule Policy/Career, stripping them of civil service protections and making them at-will employees who can be fired without cause.
The move formalizes what the Trump administration has been planning since his first day in office. Nearly all of the affected employees are at the GS-15 level or above, holding senior positions such as agency leaders, division heads, senior policy advisors, and chief officers. According to the Office of Personnel Management, approximately 97% of the targeted positions are at or above the GS-15 level, with a smaller number at GS-13 and GS-14 levels mostly within the Office of Management and Budget.
Employees reclassified under Schedule Policy/Career will lose long-standing protections granted under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. They will no longer be able to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, cannot challenge their reclassification, and will lose eligibility for student loan repayment and recruitment incentives. The administration said agencies have seven days to update affected employees’ personnel records.
The 8,000 positions targeted represent a significantly smaller number than the administration initially estimated. In April 2025, the Office of Personnel Management proposed regulations that could have affected about 50,000 positions. Some earlier estimates suggested as many as 200,000 positions could be converted. The final executive order affects less than one-sixth of those initial projections.
Trump attempted a similar effort during his first term through an October 2020 executive order creating Schedule F. That order went largely unimplemented and was rescinded under the Biden administration in January 2021. The Biden administration later issued regulations attempting to reinforce civil service protections and block the policy from resurfacing. The Trump administration rescinded those 2024 protections and issued its own regulations on Schedule Policy/Career in February 2026.
The Trump administration argues the reclassification improves accountability and ensures the federal workforce carries out the president’s policy agenda. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told reporters the move represents “a restoration, in our mind, of the democratic process.” He emphasized that nothing is changing with the hiring process and that employees retain whistleblower protections and cannot be fired based on political affiliation, though enforcement would fall to agencies.
Federal unions and government watchdog groups have strongly opposed the measure. When the OPM proposed the rule in April 2025, over 40,000 public comments were submitted, with approximately 94% opposed. Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called it “a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons.” He warned that workers who once reported waste, fraud, and abuse will now fear retaliation.
The Trump administration faces multiple lawsuits challenging the policy. Plaintiffs allege that Schedule Policy/Career violates due process rights, exceeds presidential authority, and contradicts federal statute. Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman stated that when government experts can be fired without cause, “it’s not just federal workers who are harmed — it’s the people across the country who rely on these essential services every day.”
Don Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland’s school of public policy, said the targeted 8,000 positions represent “a small bite of what could be a much bigger apple.” He warned that while the reclassification promises more political responsiveness, it comes “at the cost of expertise that has accumulated” over time in career positions. The administration has not ruled out expanding the pool of reclassified positions at a later date.
Sources
- Federal News Network — detailed reporting on the executive order, the reclassification process, administration statements, and expert commentary
- NPR — coverage of the executive order, its scope, historical context of civil service protections, and analysis of implications
- The White House — official fact sheet and executive order text describing Schedule Policy/Career
