OPM rule leaves 50,000 federal workers vulnerable to political dismissal

The Office of Personnel Management's Schedule Policy/Career final rule, published in early February 2026, reclassified approximately 50,000 federal career civil servants into a new at-will employment category. Workers affected included senior policy analysts, agency counsels, and program directors whose positions involved policy-related duties. Under the new rule, these employees could be dismissed without the procedural protections that have governed federal career employment since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.