WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump signed an executive order that reclassifies approximately 8,000 federal workers as at-will employees who can be fired without cause. The affected employees are nearly all at the GS-15 level, the highest rank in the civil service, and include leaders of policy offices, chiefs of staff, heads of regional offices, program managers, senior public affairs officers, and officials overseeing spending and grants.

The executive order implements a new employment category called Schedule Policy/Career, finalized by the administration in February. This category was previously known as Schedule F during Trump’s first term. Before this change, most of the roughly 2 million federal employees could only be terminated for specific reasons such as inadequate performance or misconduct, and agencies were required to follow formal processes that included appeal rights. Reclassified employees no longer have those appeal rights.

The Office of Personnel Management had initially estimated that about 50,000 positions could be reclassified, but the current order affects only about 8,000. The Trump administration has not ruled out expanding the reclassification to more positions in the future. The rule creating the Schedule Policy/Career category was already facing multiple lawsuits before the executive order specifying affected positions was issued.

Scott Kupor, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, defended the move, saying, "This is very much about accountability." He added, "It's also about a restoration, in our mind, of the democratic process." Kupor emphasized that no loyalty tests will be used and that reclassified employees retain whistleblower protections. Under federal law, these employees cannot be fired based on political affiliation, though enforcement is left to agencies.

"The people responsible for protecting our public health, safeguarding our environment, delivering our mail, managing our airports, protecting our public lands, and enforcing our laws should be allowed to do their jobs, not targeted by the same government they serve," said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. She added, "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 Moynihan, professor at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, said the change "creates bubbles around policymakers." He explained, "If you were a career civil servant and there is bad news that you want to share with the president, you're less likely to do so if you think, 'The minute I share that bad news, I'm going to get fired.'" Moynihan believes the administration began with a smaller number of positions to improve its legal standing and predicts the issue will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.