OPM finalizes Schedule Policy/Career rule stripping civil service protections from 50,000 workers

The Office of Personnel Management finalized its Schedule Policy/Career rule on February 6, 2026, reclassifying approximately 50,000 federal positions — about 2% of the federal workforce — and removing their long-standing civil service appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The rule, effective 30 days after Federal Register publication, revived the Trump administration's Schedule F initiative under a new name and transferred whistleblower retaliation investigations from the independent Office of Special Counsel to individual agencies. OPM received over 40,000 public comments, of which 94% opposed the regulation.