Trump creates Schedule Policy/Career to strip civil service protections

OPM proposed the Schedule Policy/Career rule on April 18, 2025, renaming and expanding Schedule F to cover career employees in policy-influencing roles (White House Fact Sheet, April 18, 2025)

OPM estimated approximately 50,000 federal positions — about 2% of the federal workforce — would be reclassified under the new at-will rule

Schedule Policy/Career converts existing career civil service positions to at-will status, allowing dismissal without the standard cause-based procedures that have applied since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978

Trump separately created Schedule G on July 17, 2025 — a new category of non-career political appointees who serve in policy-advocating roles and are expected to leave when the president who appointed them leaves office