Administration Finalizes Schedule Policy/Career Rule, Putting Civil Service Protections at Risk for 50,000 Federal Workers
The Trump Administration is pressing ahead with its Schedule Policy/Career rule, a move that could strip civil service protections from up to 50,000 federal employees by reclassifying their jobs. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published the final rule in the Federal Register. It takes effect March 8.
The rule, which was known as Schedule F in the first Trump Administration, creates a new class of federal employees known as Schedule Policy/Career. Employees in so-called “policy “positions will lose longstanding civil service protections. That means it will be easier to remove them, and more difficult to appeal adverse personnel actions.
Over the next month, agencies will assemble a list of positions to be moved into Schedule Policy/Career. It will then go to the White House for review, with President Trump making the final call on which positions are moved into the new category.
OPM says the change is needed to improve accountability in the federal workforce and maintain adherence to the president’s policy objectives.
“People are free to agree or disagree with any of the priorities that the president has. The only impact is if their disagreement leads them to then try to actively thwart or undermine the execution of those priorities. That behavior is not acceptable,” said OPM Director Scott Kupor at a press conference “You can’t run an organization if people are refusing to actually carry out the lawful objectives and orders of the administration.”
Appeals Changes
Those moved into the new category will be exempt from long standing civil service protections, such as eliminating the standard appeal process for such employees.
Reclassified employees will no longer be able to appeal adverse actions like suspension or firings to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and cannot challenge reclassification into Schedule Policy/Career. However, such employees can file in district court if they faced discrimination or retaliation.
“We are inundated every day in the federal government, unfortunately, with misconduct and poor performance by civil servants — it’s a crisis,” said OPM Senior Advisor Noah Peters. “[Agencies] shouldn’t have to go through layers of appeals and proceedings in order to fire someone or even discipline them.”
The rule also changes the process for investigating whistleblower retaliation for employees in that category. Under the rule, agencies will be responsible for setting up their own policies on whistleblower investigations, instead of the cases being referred to the Office of Special Counsel.
Critics Speak Out
OPM received more than 40,000 comments on the rule, with about 94 percent in opposition. Critics say it will politicize the civil service.
“No matter what the administration says, today’s action has nothing to do with restoring merit in federal employment,” said Partnership for Public Service President and CEO Max Stier. “This new designation can be used to remove expert career federal employees who place the law and service to the public ahead of blind loyalty and replace them with political supporters who will unquestioningly do the president’s bidding.”
There are also numerous legal challenges pending, including a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward and by the American Federation of Government Employees. (AFGE).
“This is a deliberate attempt to do through regulation what the law does not allow—strip public servants of their rights and make it easier to fire them for political reasons and harm the American people through doing so,” said Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman.