Schedule F
A year after sounding the alarm, NIH dissenters say political influence is entrenched at research agency
The Trump administration has cut staff and grants at the National Institutes of Health, and employees warn further overhauls appear to be likely.
Trump’s edict making 8,000 feds at-will employees draws swift outcry
Agencies have just one week to reclassify thousands of federal workers in purportedly policy-related roles into the new Schedule Policy/Career, stripping them of most civil service protections.
Trump signs order moving thousands of federal employees into Schedule F
Roughly 8,000 career federal employees were stripped of their civil service protections Wednesday, making them effectively at-will employees.
HHS to start Schedule P/C conversions while withholding details on new RIFs
Hundreds of GS-15s are being converted to the controversial job classification that strips civil service protections.
House GOP on Trump’s 2027 pay freeze: ‘That’s politics’
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee last week beat back multiple attempts to increase federal workers’ pay next year and restore their workplace rights.
Critics argue new federal workforce rules increase the risk of politicization, not accountability
COMMENTARY | The debate over the Policy/Career Schedule centers on whether the changes strengthen accountability or erode civil service protections.
As the number of political appointees surge and career SES ranks shrink, one nonprofit warns of ‘institutional consequences’
The Trump administration has sought to exert more political influence over the Senior Executive Service, which are the highest-ranking career civil servants.
Employee groups revive lawsuit to block Schedule F
A coalition of labor unions and other employee advocacy groups say President Trump’s plan to convert around 50,000 federal workers to at-will employees violates federal law, the Constitution and threatens to upend the merit-based civil service.
Continuing to shed federal workers remains ‘priority number one,’ White House official says
OMB deputy suggests that making it easier to fire feds will ‘liberate’ them to do their jobs better.
The ‘new’ Policy/Career Schedule does NOT (necessarily) politicize the federal workforce
COMMENTARY | The Policy/Career Schedule may not be Trump 1.0's Schedule F, but there are guardrails that can allay some fears about its implications.
Trump promised to ‘reclaim power’ from civil servants in his 2025 speech to Congress. Here’s what has changed since
The administration has made strides on several of the federal workforce goals that the president laid out in his speech to Congress last year.
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‘My dream job has turned into a nightmare’: Ex-feds and public service experts testify to Congress on how to rebuild government post-Trump
Some recommendations that several Democratic lawmakers and advocates brought up included overturning Schedule Policy/Career, restoring collective bargaining rights for the federal workforce and increasing congressional oversight.
Trump admin moves to finalize return of Schedule F
Officials estimate that around 50,000 federal workers will be stripped of their civil service protections beginning in around a month, as unions, employee associations and good government groups decry their positions’ politicization.
Schedule F won’t fix government’s performance management problems, report finds
The Partnership for Public Service warned that, contrary to proponents’ claims, there is “no evidence” that at-will employment improves employee or agency performance.
‘Harder days ahead in 2026’: Good government group predicts increased political interference in the civil service in Trump’s second year
A new analysis from the Partnership for Public Service looks at the effects, so far, of the Trump administration’s reforms to the federal workforce and what they could portend.
Final Schedule F regulations to describe civil service protections as ‘unconstitutional overcorrections’
OPM officials told agency HR leaders Tuesday that President Trump has Article II constitutional authority to remove tens of thousands of career federal workers in jobs over potential “resistance to policy.”
NTEU sues OPM for Schedule F records
The federal employee union said the government’s dedicated HR agency ignored an August Freedom of Information Act request pertaining to which positions agencies plan to convert to the controversial new job classification.
Virginia lawmaker takes over advocacy for federal workforce bills
Rep. James Walkinshaw this week formally assumed lead sponsorship for a series of bills introduced each year by his predecessor, the late Rep. Gerry, Connolly, D-Va.
Most Americans oppose RIFs, but a good-government group says anti-layoff messaging needs to be improved
A Partnership for Public Service researcher said that there needs to be more focus on the consequences of laying off federal employees versus the government workers themselves because “we found through our focus groups that there's not a lot of sympathy for civil servants losing their jobs.”
A time machine tour of civil service reform
COMMENTARY | From Washington to Trump, every era has redefined the rules of federal employment. If you could set the clock, which version of the merit system would you choose?
