WASHINGTON — On June 3, Donald Trump issued an executive order implementing Schedule Policy/Career, a new federal employee classification. This reclassification removes certain civil service job protections for approximately 8,000 federal employees. The reclassified employees are placed in an at-will status, meaning they can be terminated for misconduct or poor performance.

Trump initially created Schedule Policy/Career with an executive order on January 20, 2025. The January 2025 order reinstated a 2020 executive order that established a similar classification called Schedule F. Joe Biden revoked the 2020 Schedule F executive order in 2021, and Trump's January 2025 order revoked Biden's 2021 order. The January 2025 order also gave the president, rather than the director of the Office of Personnel Management, final authority over position reclassifications.

OPM issued guidance identifying the 8,000 existing federal positions for reclassification. The June 3 executive order included a 229-page appendix listing specific agency positions subject to this reclassification. OPM had previously estimated that up to 50,000 federal employees could be reclassified under the new schedule. According to a White House fact sheet, 97% of the positions identified for reclassification are at the senior GS-15 level.

Scott Kupor, director of OPM, said, "This is very much about accountability. It is also about a restoration, in our mind, of the democratic process." Kupor added, "In order to effect the president's policy priorities, we need people in these senior positions willing and capable of carrying out those directives. If you allow your political views to interfere in your willingness to carry out lawful orders and directives, this is a mechanism for you to be removed, effectively at-will. There are zero loyalty tests in this." The January 2025 order states that employees in these reclassified positions are not required to personally or politically support the president or the administration's policies.

William Shackelford, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, commented on the change, saying, "This action will undermine the effectiveness of the civil service in carrying out government operations on behalf of the American people." Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said, "Workers who once felt comfortable reporting waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at their place of employment because they were protected from retaliation will now be afraid for their jobs if they speak out."

OPM published a proposed rule to implement the January 2025 order on April 23, 2025, and a final implementation rule on February 6, 2026. On April 28, OPM issued a memo identifying Schedule C and Schedule G employees as exempt from a revised performance review process. On June 8, OPM issued a memo detailing disciplinary procedures for employees transferred to the new schedule.