OPM finalizes Schedule Policy/Career rule, exposing 50,000 federal workers to at-will firing

The Office of Personnel Management published its final Schedule Policy/Career regulation on February 5, 2026, implementing the framework for reclassifying approximately 50,000 career federal employees — about 2 percent of the federal workforce — into an at-will employment category. OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell described the rule as strengthening accountability by allowing agencies to remove employees who subvert presidential directives without the lengthy procedural protections that apply to competitive service employees. Under the final rule, agencies can remove Schedule Policy/Career employees without providing advance notice or the right to respond, and workers lose the ability to appeal dismissals to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The regulation described existing civil service protections as unconstitutional overcorrections.