OPM resurrects Schedule F stripping protections from career workforce

On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order reinstating Schedule F under the new name 'Schedule Policy/Career,' targeting up to 50,000 federal workers in policy-influencing positions and stripping their civil service protections and Merit Systems Protection Board appeal rights (White House EO 14171).

On March 27, 2025, Trump signed a separate executive order excluding agencies with 'national security missions' from the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, eliminating collective bargaining rights for workers at more than 30 agencies — affecting over 1 million unionized federal employees, or 84% of the unionized federal workforce (Center for American Progress; NPR).

Beginning in February 2025, OPM acting director Charles Ezell directed agencies to conduct mass terminations of thousands of probationary federal employees; termination letters falsely cited 'performance' reasons before court orders required corrective notices by April 18, 2025, acknowledging a 'government-wide mass termination.' Over 2,000 complaints were filed with the Office of Special Counsel (Federal News Network).

Trump signed an executive order on March 20, 2025 directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education; the department cut nearly 50% of its roughly 4,133 staff (approximately 1,300 through reduction-in-force plus ~600 voluntary separations), though full elimination requires an act of Congress and likely 60 Senate votes to overcome a filibuster (NPR; EdWeek).

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory laid off 114 employees after the Trump administration slashed billions from renewable energy programs and paused clean energy infrastructure investments (Federal News Network).