HHS notifies hundreds of senior employees they've been reclassified into Schedule PC

The Department of Health and Human Services notified hundreds of senior employees via internal email on May 15, 2026 that they were being reclassified into Schedule Policy/Career, stripping them of civil service job protections and converting them to at-will status. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s department confirmed the email's authenticity and said the reclassifications reflected the finalization of previously announced reductions in force. The initial tranche affected employees on the order of hundreds, not thousands, with HHS officials indicating additional tranches would follow. Workers who previously could only be fired for cause with the right to challenge the termination before the Merit Systems Protection Board can now be dismissed without stated reasons or appeal rights.