The Trump administration announced it is moving forward with a new rule to reclassify some career civil servants as “at will” federal employees, a plan it says will make it easier to fire underperforming employees.
In a fact sheet, the White House said Friday the rule will empower federal agencies to “swiftly remove employees in policy-influencing roles for poor performance, misconduct, corruption or subversion of presidential directives without lengthy procedural hurdles.”
The rule, formerly referred to as Schedule F, exempts certain government positions from employment protections. Among the positions that would be affected are “policy-determining, policy-making or policy advocating” roles. Civil service workers have had the protections under a rule intended to prevent turnover from administration to administration.
About 50,000 positions will be affected by the rule.
“These employees will keep their competitive status and are not required to personally or politically support the president, but must faithfully implement the law and the administration’s policies,” the White House said.
The move builds on an executive order Mr. Trump signed on his first day in office, creating a new employment classification for civil servants to strip them of job protections. Border patrol agents and wage and hour inspectors will be excluded from the rule.
Once the final rule is implemented, it doesn’t automatically change the positions. That would have to be done by an executive order.
“Following my Day One Executive Order, the Office of Personnel Management will be issuing new Civil Service Regulations for career government employees,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Moving forward, career government employees, working on policy matters, will be classified as ’Schedule Policy/Career,’ and will be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance. If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the president or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job.”
