Most career federal workers are not at‑will employees and generally cannot be fired without cause. However, another change by the Trump administration may further erode those civil service protections. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have left government service since January 2025 through retirements, resignations, and removals, and a new executive order hints that those numbers are likely to soon swell.
Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service, signed by President Donald J. Trump on June 3, 2026, amends several civil service regulations, Executive Order 13957, and Executive Order 14171. It operationalizes a new “Schedule Policy/Career” category in the excepted service, a successor to the earlier “Schedule F” classification created during the first Trump administration and later rolled back by President Joseph Biden. Under the changes, roughly 8,000 policy‑influencing positions are being shifted to Schedule Policy/Career and will be exempt from job protections under the adverse action system. It also allows executive agency heads to identify and recommend additional policy‑influencing positions that should be moved into the new category.
This follows in the footsteps of a rule implemented by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in February of this year, which created the Schedule Policy/Career classification and estimated that as many as 50,000 career policy‑related positions could ultimately be moved into that at‑will category, reducing similar protections for those jobs, and last week’s proposed rule to restrict federal grant funding, led by the Office of Management and Budget (O.M.B.), which opponents argue would steer federal grants toward recipients aligned with the administration’s policy priorities. While the new order claims that Schedule Policy/Career positions opened through firings will be filled on a “non-partisan” basis, critics argue that the changes will make it easier for President Trump and his appointees to remove career senior policy makers who have opposed many of his policies or otherwise fallen out of favor.
The civil-service changes have given birth to numerous lawsuits challenging the legality of President Trump’s actions, many of which are still working their way through the legal system. Federal employee unions and advocacy groups have already sued over earlier workforce actions, and expanding the Schedule Policy/Career framework seems likely to add to that total.
The mass layoffs, firings, and terminations of hundreds of thousands of career federal employees gave birth to a bevy of lawsuits challenging the legality of President Trump’s actions, many of which are still working their way through the legal system. Bringing back the Schedule F classification seems likely to make a significant addition to that total.
Federal Authority vs. Civil Service Protections
Although there are exceptions due to local and state laws or collective bargaining agreements, at-will employees in the private sector can be fired or laid off with or without notice for any reason (or no reason at all), as long as discrimination or whistleblower protections aren’t violated. This is not the case for most federal workforce employees, who have due process rights that are protected by adverse action procedures that include counseling, notices, the right to respond, and the ability to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) if the termination is determined to be justified. Many are members of federal employee unions, such as the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
Despite being career political appointees, those in the Senior Executive Service (SES) (also known as the competitive service) have long been considered nonpartisan civil service employees and tend to remain in their positions regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. Members specialize in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character roles. The dismissal procedure for issues such as poor performance, malfeasance, and neglect of duty included the same protections offered to other federal workers, as well as the option of reassignment to a lower-ranked position. There was also a provision that prohibited the removal of a career executive for performance reasons during 120 days after the appointment of a new agency head or a new noncareer supervisor with removal authority, presumably to keep an incoming administration from having the authority to clean house based on politics rather than competence.
Changing Protections Within the Competitive Service
The newest order regarding the dismissal of select government employees claims that it is restoring accountability to policy-influencing positions within the federal workforce and upholding civil service protections and merit system principles. This, it alleges, will be accomplished by improving performance, accountability and responsiveness in the civil service. Whether those results will be ultimately achieved remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: it greatly increases the president’s ability to remove appointees who were previously beyond his reach.
Previously, the office of the president held the power to fire about 4,000 civil servants who were political appointments. By reclassifying about 8,000 additional policy‑influencing positions into the at‑will Schedule Policy/Career category and authorizing agency heads to seek reclassification of more roles, the order significantly expands the number of federal employees the president can remove without the usual civil service procedures.
Given the response to the second Trump administration’s other policy-shaping orders and rules implemented earlier this year, filings challenging their legality may well be numerous. During the public comment period on OPM’s reclassification rule, more than 35,000 comments were submitted, and an independent analysis found over 90% opposed to the change.
