President Donald Trump has revived a familiar executive order aimed at stripping away civil service protections for much of the federal workforce, making many career federal employees at-will and easier to fire.
The executive order essentially reinstates the original 2020 executive order as Schedule F. It was one of more than two dozen directives signed by Trump on his first day in office, many of which called for a major restructuring of the hand -federal work.
The new Schedule F Executive Order changes the name of the “F” classification to a “Political/Career” classification of federal employees. Trump said his action would “restore accountability” to federal personnel.
“An essential aspect of this executive function is the responsibility to maintain professionalism and accountability within the public service. This accountability is sorely lacking today,” Trump wrote in the executive order. “Accountability is essential for all federal employees, but it is especially important for those in positions of political influence. »
Trump’s reinstated Annex F order aims to reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees into “political influence” roles. If implemented, the directive would place federal officials in these roles outside of merit system principles, making it easier for agencies to remove them from their positions.
As of 2020, the original Annex F order has largely gone unimplemented since the end of the Trump administration and former President Joe Biden rescinded it in January 2021.
Trump said in the new executive order that the action was necessary “because of numerous and well-documented cases of career federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive branch.”
Federal unions and some lawmakers, however, have opposed Trump’s latest efforts. The National Treasury Employees Union quickly filed a lawsuit against Trump officials. The union argued that it was illegal to convert career federal jobs into political positions. The lawsuit alleges that Trump’s order goes against established federal hiring principles, federal employees’ due process rights and Office of Personnel Management regulations.
“The American people deserve that day-to-day government services be entrusted to qualified professionals, committed to public service, and who remain in office, regardless of which political party occupies the White House,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald, in a press release. statement. “The employees we represent work in federal agencies that keep the nation safe, protect public health, promote economic growth and protect consumers from fraud. Their jobs require training and expertise in their chosen field in order to provide the best possible service to all Americans, without passing a test of political loyalty.
The American Federation of Government Employees also said efforts to strip away civil service protections are a thinly veiled attempt to politicize the careers of federal personnel.
“The American civil service is a merit system protected from corruption by the right to due process for federal employees,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “Corrupting the civil service by reclassifying professional jobs as Schedule F runs counter to the interests of American citizens who expect federal employees to be hired solely based on their ability to perform the duties of their position .”
Just before Trump’s executive order Monday, a group of lawmakers also reintroduced the bicameral law last week to save the civil service. The bill seeks to codify civil service protections for the federal workforce by prohibiting agencies from reclassifying career federal employees without congressional approval.
“Trump’s executive order is designed to starve and weaken the federal workforce,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a statement. “We appreciate the steps the Biden administration has taken to complicate Trump’s ability to implement this order and will continue to push for our legislation to completely end it.”
The actual implementation of Trump’s new executive order is unclear. Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, said that due to the Biden administration’s 2024 final rule strengthening civil service protections for career federal workers in policy-related roles, the Trump administration should go through the same rulemaking process before the agencies. could take other steps to reclassify workers.
“For this to actually lead to real change, you would have to undo a rule, and that requires a pretty complex process,” Stier told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. Stier added that most of Trump’s executive actions “will require many follow-up actions before we see substantial change.”
“Attention to government management is actually fundamental and important to the American people,” Stier said. “The underlying effort to undermine the professionalism and apolitical nature of the public service is the worst way to do this. »
Jenny Mattingley, the Partnership’s vice president of government affairs, said the wording of the new executive order is similar to the original Schedule F, but has some revisions. For example, a provision from the 2020 Executive Order on the Principles of the Federal Non-Merit Hiring System was removed from the new Executive Order.
“I think our question on this is how this will be implemented – there’s still a pretty broad definition of who this applies to,” Mattingley told reporters. “That’s yet another topic that we’re going to continue to monitor the implementation of… It might be more of a signal of where they want to go than, in fact, achieving the outcome that’s outlined there.”
More broadly than just the executive order listed in Schedule F, Stier warned that it will be important to monitor the implementation of Trump’s suite of executive actions.
“Executives are often used more as performative exercises than substantive governance exercises,” Stier said. “And that’s certainly true given the volume and diversity of EOs we have here – many of them, frankly, require a lot of implementation before they affect real change within the workforce. “federal work or beyond.”
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