Posts tagged Schedule Policy/Career
Trump strips civil service protections from thousands of workers
June 8, 2026 // The reclassification is part of a wider campaign by Trump to downsize the civil service and realign it toward his policy goals. The administration has developed rules to have federal employees sign nondisclosure agreements, extend suitability standards, end certain layoff protections, cap performance ratings and weaken safeguards for probationary workers. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told reporters the administration needs people in policy-making positions willing to carry out the president’s directives. It doesn’t matter what political views those federal employees may have, he said. “But if you allow those views to basically interfere with your willingness to actually carry out lawful orders and policy directives of the administration, then this provides a mechanism, obviously, for people in those agencies to be able to be removed effectively at will,” Kupor said.
Trump formalizes move of career federal workers into ‘at will’ roles
June 6, 2026 // An executive order signed by Trump on Wednesday seeks to move those workers into the new class, saying they would be “exempted from the adverse action procedures that make removals for poor performance or misconduct so difficult.” “Consequently, employees with significant policy-making responsibilities can stay in their jobs for years even if they perform poorly, engage in misconduct, or are unwilling to advance Presidential policy across administrations, making their agencies less capable of delivering for the American people,” the White House wrote in a fact sheet describing those now in the schedule as having “at-will positions.”
OPM’s Final “Schedule Policy/Career” Rule is Published
February 17, 2026 // On February 6, 2026, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) finalized its rule, Improving Performance, Accountability, and Responsiveness in the Civil Service, aka the “Schedule Policy/Career” rule, for federal employees in policy-influencing positions. Roles under this designation will be merit-based but at will and filled by presidential administrations instead of through the civil service system so that agencies can act quickly when serious performance or conduct failures arise. The rule takes effect March 9, 2026.
Federal employees put into revived ‘Schedule F’ category may lose loan aid, pay incentives
February 12, 2026 // Supplemental guidance from the Office of Personnel Management clarified that Schedule Policy/Career positions will, for the most part, no longer be eligible for student loan repayment options, nor will they be able to receive recruitment, retention or relocation incentives. The forthcoming benefits changes for Schedule Policy/Career employees align with what Schedule C employees and other political appointees already see.
NTEU sues OPM for Schedule F records
November 18, 2025 // The federal employee union said the government’s dedicated HR agency ignored an August Freedom of Information Act request pertaining to which positions agencies plan to convert to the controversial new job classification.