Trump Signs Order Stripping Civil Service Protections From 8,000 Senior Federal Workers

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order converting approximately 8,000 senior career federal employees into at-will workers, the administration's most concrete step yet in a multi-year push to tighten White House control over the civil service.

The order, titled "Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service" and published on the White House website, formally transfers named positions into Schedule Policy/Career, an excepted-service category that removes the adverse-action procedures and appeal rights that career employees in the competitive service have historically relied on, according to Federal News Network.

Nearly all of the 8,000 positions are at the GS-15 or Senior Level pay grade - the highest-ranking career slots outside the Senior Executive Service - according to NPR. The affected roles include directors, deputy directors, senior policy advisors, chiefs of staff, budget officials, senior counsel, legislative affairs officers, and communications managers at agencies ranging from the Department of Agriculture to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as reported by FedSmith.

Under the order, an agency need only provide written notice to separate a Schedule Policy/Career employee for unacceptable performance or misconduct, bypassing the multi-step process that applies to most career workers. Affected employees also lose the right to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, according to Federal News Network.

Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor framed the order as a question of democratic accountability. "It's also about a restoration, in our mind, of the democratic process," Kupor told reporters on a press call Wednesday, as quoted by Federal News Network. "This provides a mechanism, obviously, for people in those agencies to be able to be removed effectively at will," he added, according to NPR.

Kupor said no loyalty tests would be applied and that employees would retain whistleblower protections, but critics noted that enforcement would rest with the agencies themselves.

The 229-page appendix to the order lists specific position description numbers at more than 248 organizational units across the executive branch, according to FedSmith. Agencies have seven days from the order's signing to notify affected employees and update personnel records.

The figure is far below the 50,000 positions the OPM had once estimated could be reclassified. A senior administration official said Trump chose to focus on "the most senior level career policy officials," according to Government Executive. The administration has not ruled out expanding the pool.

Opponents moved quickly. A coalition including the American Federation of Government Employees, AFSCME, the AFL-CIO, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Democracy Forward has active litigation challenging the underlying OPM rulemaking and the broader Schedule Policy/Career framework, according to a legal analysis reviewed by Attorneys for Federal Employees. Legal theories include exceeding presidential authority under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, violating the Administrative Procedure Act, and depriving covered employees of due-process interests in their positions.

"This is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees' due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said, as quoted by Federal News Network.

Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement Wednesday that the country has long relied on a "professional, nonpartisan civil service" and warned that harm to fired workers would extend to the public depending on federal services, according to Time.

The policy traces back to October 2020, when Trump issued Executive Order 13957 establishing what was then called Schedule F near the end of his first term. That order went largely unimplemented and was rescinded under the Biden administration, according to Government Executive. Trump reinstated the framework on Inauguration Day of his second term under the name Schedule Policy/Career, and OPM's implementing final rule took effect in March 2026, per FedSmith.

Courts have not yet ruled on the merits of the June 3 order, according to Attorneys for Federal Employees.

Sources cited:
- Federal News Network (https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2026/06/trump-moves-about-8000-federal-positions-to-schedule-policy-career/)
- NPR (https://www.npr.org/2026/06/03/nx-s1-5742806/trump-federal-employees-civil-service-job-protections-schedule-f)
- FedSmith (https://www.fedsmith.com/2026/06/03/what-the-new-schedule-policy-career-order-means-for-federal-employees/)
- Government Executive (https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2026/06/trump-federal-employees-schedule-f/413945/)
- White House - Executive Order text (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/implementing-schedule-policy-career-in-the-excepted-service/)
- White House - Fact Sheet (https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/06/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-increases-accountability-in-the-federal-workforce/)
- Attorneys for Federal Employees (https://www.attorneysforfederalemployees.com/blog/2026/06/schedule-policy-career-tips-for-federal-employees-impacted-by-the-june-3-2026-executive-order/)
- Time (https://time.com/article/2026/06/04/trump-executive-order-schedule-policy-career-classification-fire-federal-workers-at-will/)