President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) that reclassifies nearly 8,000 federal employees working in “senior policy-influencing positions” into “Schedule Policy/Career” or at-will employees, essentially stripping them of job protections.
How Does The Directive Work?
The directive – IMPLEMENTING SCHEDULE POLICY/CAREER IN THE EXCEPTED SERVICE – allows the government to remove such employees for “misconduct or poor performance,” to “enhance accountability” and ensure the president can fulfill his constitutional duty of faithfully executing the laws and advance the American people’s priorities.
According to the EO’s writing on the White House’s website, the proclamation “is essential to protecting democratic self-government by an elected President.”
According to the proclamation, “barely two-fifths of Federal supervisors believe they could remove subordinates who engage in serious misconduct, and only a quarter believe they could remove serious underperformers. Further, two-thirds of senior Federal executives report that their agencies rarely or never reassign or dismiss underperforming managers.”
Additionally, President Trump affirms that Schedule Policy/Career positions will be filled based on merit and not political affiliation.
The directive will recognize such merit “by directing executive departments and agencies (agencies) to appropriately recognize and reward Schedule Policy/Career employees for outstanding work.”
Personnel Management Director Calls It A Restoration of The Democratic Process
“It’s also about a restoration, in our mind, of the democratic process,” Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor told reporters during a press call. “What Schedule Policy/Career does is really nothing new. This is exactly the way the system worked for a very long time … In order to affect the policy priorities of the administration, we need to have people willing to and capable of carrying out those directives.”
President Trump emphasizes the significance of the policy directive by citing the difficulties presented by having these positions exempted from poor performance or misconduct removal procedures.
Who Does it Affect?
According to USA Today, roughly 97% of the reclassified employees are among the highest-ranking career positions. Directors, chiefs of staff, senior advisers, and policy analysts focus on drafting regulations and guidance, and federal grant allocations are among those affected.
Surprisingly, the number of workers affected by the reclassification is lower than what the OPM had previously estimated.
In Feb. 2026, OPM estimated that around 2% of the federal workforce – 50,000 employees – would be subject to the conversion.
