Trump Signs Executive Order Stripping Civil Service Protections From 8,000 Senior Federal Workers
On June 3, 2026, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order titled "Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service." The order formalizes a new employment classification, "Schedule Policy/Career," which strips long-standing civil service job protections from approximately 8,000 high-level career federal employees across the executive branch. Agencies have been given exactly seven days to make conforming changes to the personnel records of the affected employees, OPM officials confirmed.
The new classification targets the highest tier of the non-political federal workforce, with approximately 97% of the affected positions at or above the GS-15 level. Targeted roles include agency division heads, regional directors, chief information officers (CIOs), senior human resources officials, agency deputies, high-level attorneys, senior regulation writers, and officials involved in policy development, budget allocations, or strategic planning. Under the new schedule, these senior officials can be disciplined or fired without cause, and they are barred from appealing adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Reclassified employees also lose eligibility for student loan repayment programs and recruitment or retention incentives.
This action represents a narrower, more legally targeted version of the controversial "Schedule F" proposal from Trump's first term, which was estimated to cover between 50,000 and 200,000 employees. Administration officials defended the move as a necessary tool to combat "policy resistance" and ensure the federal bureaucracy remains accountable to the elected president. Opponents, including federal employee unions and civil rights organizations, contend the order unconstitutionally politicizes the civil service, strips due process, and effectively dismantles the non-partisan, professional bureaucracy that has existed for generations.