President Trump signed an executive order on June 3, 2026, reclassifying nearly 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 workers who can be fired without cause.
The move represents the most significant step yet in Trump’s effort to reshape the federal workforce. An estimated 97% of the affected positions are at or above the GS-15 level, the highest ranks of the career civil service, according to Federal News Network. These include leaders of agency subcomponents and divisions, heads of regional offices, chief information officers, senior HR officials, and officials involved in policy development and budget allocation.
Employees reclassified into Schedule Policy/Career will no longer have the right to appeal disciplinary actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, the independent quasi-judicial agency that has historically protected federal workers from arbitrary removal. They will also lose eligibility for student loan repayment options and recruitment or relocation incentives, Federal News Network reported.
Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told reporters the reclassification aims to ensure the federal workforce carries out the president’s policy agenda. “It’s also about a restoration, in our mind, of the democratic process,” Kupor said, according to Federal News Network. “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 argues the change improves accountability, noting that it remains too difficult to remove federal employees for poor performance under existing civil service rules. However, the reclassification is far smaller than originally anticipated. The Office of Personnel Management had initially estimated that as many as 50,000 positions could eventually be moved into Schedule Policy/Career, according to Federal News Network.
Opposition and Legal Challenges
Federal unions and civil service advocates have mounted fierce opposition. 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,” according to Federal News Network. He warned that workers who once felt protected reporting waste and fraud would now fear retaliation.
Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, an organization suing the Trump administration over the policy, said the move harms both employees and the public. “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,” Perryman said, according to NPR.
The Trump administration is facing multiple lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Schedule Policy/Career. Plaintiffs allege the reclassification violates due process rights, exceeds presidential authority, and contradicts federal statute, Federal News Network reported. Legal experts predict the issue could eventually reach the Supreme Court.
The policy traces its roots to Trump’s first term, when he issued a similar executive order creating “Schedule F” in the final months of his presidency. That order went largely unimplemented and was quickly rescinded by the Biden administration. The Trump administration has since revived the concept under the new name and with a longer runway for implementation.
Sources
- Federal News Network — core reporting on the June 3 executive order, affected positions, employee protections stripped, administration rationale, and opposition statements
- NPR — confirmation of 8,000 employees reclassified, at-will employment status, historical context on civil service protections, and expert analysis
- The Washington Post — confirmation of reclassification affecting 8,000 senior federal workers
- The White House — official fact sheet and executive order details on Schedule Policy/Career
- Reuters — confirmation of job protections stripped from workers earning up to $200,000 annually
- The Guardian — confirmation of order stripping protections from policy-influencing positions
