OPM strips civil service protections from 50,000 federal workers

OPM Director Scott Kupor announced the final rule on Feb. 5, 2026. It creates a new job classification called "Schedule Policy/Career" for federal employees whose work involves policy. About 50,000 workers, roughly 2% of the federal workforce, will be affected.

The rule makes these employees "at-will" workers. That means they can be fired without the protections that other civil service employees have, like appeals to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Their job security becomes similar to that of political appointees who serve at the president's pleasure.

OPM defines "policy positions" broadly. It includes employees who draft or edit policy documents, offer policy advice to agency leaders, or develop regulations. The rule doesn't just target senior officials. It reaches career employees at multiple levels across every federal agency.

The rule also changes how these workers report waste, fraud, or abuse. Previously, federal whistleblowers could take complaints to the independent Office of Special Counsel. Under the new rule, they must report concerns within their own agency. The agency's general counsel, a political appointee, will review the complaints.

Trump first proposed Schedule F in October 2020, near the end of his first term. He didn't have time to implement it before leaving office. President Biden rescinded it on his first day. Trump revived it on Jan. 20, 2025, the day he returned to the White House.

During the public comment period, OPM received 40,500 comments on the proposed rule. That's the most in OPM's history. 94% of those comments opposed the change. OPM's senior advisor NPNoah Peters told agency HR leaders that many comments reflected "a misunderstanding" about the rule.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said the rule opens the door to political patronage. AFGE president Everett Kelley said OPM is "rebranding career public servants as policy employees, silencing whistleblowers, and replacing competent professionals with political flunkies."

Democracy Forward, which led an earlier lawsuit to block the policy, vowed to return to court. President Skye Perryman said the rule is "a deliberate attempt to do through regulation what the law does not allow." Federal judges had paused the earlier litigation while rulemaking was underway. That case will now resume.

The rule takes effect in 30 days. After that, Trump will issue a separate executive order officially designating which positions will move to the new classification. Agency heads have already submitted lists of recommended positions to OPM.

The final rule was published in the Federal Register on February 7, 2026, and takes effect 30 days later on March 8, 2026. After that effective date, Trump will issue a separate executive order officially designating which 50,000 positions will move to the new classification. Agency heads have already submitted their recommended lists to OPM.

The rule implements a key Project 2025 recommendation. Heritage Foundation's 927-page policy blueprint explicitly advocated for Schedule F as a tool to replace career civil servants with political appointees. Project 2025 suggested that up to 500,000 federal jobs could eventually be reclassified to expand presidential control over the federal bureaucracy.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) filed a lawsuit to block the policy and submitted extensive comments warning that the rule would allow agencies to engage in prohibited personnel practices, subject employees to political coercion, and hire based on nepotism instead of merit. NTEU joins AFGE and Democracy Forward in coordinated legal challenges.