Trump admin issues new rule, making it easier to fire 50,000 federal workers

Approximately 50,000 federal workers in “policy-influencing” positions will lose specific protections against firings and become more at-will employees in the next month, per a new Trump administration rule announced Thursday.

The new rule, published by the Office of Personnel Management, will move senior career civil servants in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating” positions into the Schedule Policy/Career category, formerly known as Schedule F.

Going forward, federal workers in those roles will lose their ability to appeal firings, suspensions or disciplinary action to an independent board.

Administration officials can dismiss those employees if they engage in “misconduct, poor performance or obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives.”

An official familiar with the matter said the administration would not discipline employees based on their political affiliation nor who they voted for. In issuing its new rule, the Office of Personnel Management dismissed concerns that the new directive would pressure current employees to align themselves with the president’s political beliefs or suppress speech.

Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the new policy would hold federal workers more accountable.

“No longer will individuals in these policy making roles be able to execute their own priorities, but rather will be accountable to the will of the American people, as enforced by the policies promulgated by the duly-elected president,” Kupor said.

The new rule aligns with Trump’s executive order “Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service.”

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing non-postal federal workers, said in a statement that the rule would “chill protected speech” and “weaken enforceable protections against retaliation.”

“This rule is a direct assault on a professional, nonpartisan, merit-based civil service and the government services the American people rely on every day,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said.

“When people see turmoil and controversy in Washington, they don’t ask for more politics in government, they ask for competence and professionalism. OPM is doing the opposite. They’re rebranding career public servants as ‘policy’ employees, silencing whistleblowers, and replacing competent professionals with political flunkies without any neutral, independent protections against politicization and arbitrary abuse of power,” Kelley added.

Democracy Forward, a litigation nonprofit, said in a statement they would sue the Trump administration for the rule change.

Since returning to the White House last year, the president has sought to restrain the federal workforce by making more employees at-will and conducting mass firings. Trump and his allies have at times characterized federal employees as the “deep state,” infringing on his agenda.

More than 300,000 federal workers have left the government since last year through buyouts, early retirement offers, firings, reduction-in-force and department closures.

The Office of Personnel Management did not specify which jobs would be directly impacted by the new rule. It is expected to take effect in 30 days.