What Is Schedule F
Schedule F is a job category that turns career federal employees in “policy-influencing” roles into at-will workers, who can be fired without the usual appeal rights. It does not abolish their jobs or require new hires to be political appointees. It changes the rules so a president can remove the people who hold those jobs. The Trump administration created it in 2020, President Biden rescinded it in 2021, and Trump revived it in 2025 under a new name, Schedule Policy/Career.
A rule change about who can be fired, not a layoff. The people moved keep their jobs and pay. What they lose is the process that stood between them and a dismissal.
Key facts
- About 8,000 career positions became at-will on June 3, 2026, and 97% are GS-15 or higher.
- OPM estimated up to 50,000 positions, about 2% of the federal workforce, could eventually move.
- Moved employees cannot appeal a firing to the Merit Systems Protection Board or challenge the move itself.
- The Saving the Civil Service Act would block it. The House bill has 109 cosponsors, 4 of them Republicans.
If you work for the federal government and are not sure whether your job moved, find the position description number on your SF-50 personnel form and look for it in the White House appendix. Your union, such as the American Federation of Government Employees or the National Treasury Employees Union, can explain your rights. Democracy Forward’s Civil Service Strong tracks the rule and the lawsuits against it.
What the First Round Felt Like Inside NIH and CDC
The first reclassifications landed in early June, when agencies had seven days to tell employees they had been moved. Federal News Network interviewed three employees who asked not to be named because they feared retribution, and two of them had been reclassified. Both said their jobs had nothing to do with setting policy (Federal News Network).
“It caught me off guard,” said the employee at the National Institutes of Health, who found out which colleagues were affected by asking around the next day. That employee is now looking for another job. The employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described what changed at work: “Up until a few weeks ago, I could push back on methods, scientific rigor or interpretation of results without fear of losing my job. Now I can’t say anything.”
A senior administration official told reporters that employees who do their jobs “in a competent, professional manner” have “nothing to be afraid of.” OPM Director Scott Kupor put the goal this way: “we need to have people who are willing to and capable of carrying out directives.”
What Schedule Policy/Career Takes Away
Schedule Policy/Career does not fire anyone by itself. It removes the legal steps that stand between a career worker and a dismissal, which is what makes firing easy afterward. The final rule says the jobs stay career positions filled on merit and keeps the ban on firing someone for their politics. But the rule also sends complaints about that kind of firing to the employee’s own agency instead of an independent office.
What changes for an employee moved into Schedule Policy/Career
Source: OPM final rule (February 6, 2026); Executive Order 14410; Federal News Network; Government Executive
The whistleblower row is where the worry about politics lives. A worker who can be removed without an appeal, and whose complaint would be judged by the same agency that fired them, has a reason to stay quiet. That is the pressure the CDC employee described. Reporting to an agency’s inspector general is another protected route, and it does not run through the employee’s managers.
Where the 8,000 Positions Are
Schedule Policy/Career landed on the senior, expert end of the workforce. The White House says 97% of the moved positions are GS-15 or Senior-Level, the grades held by division chiefs, senior program managers, attorney advisors, and senior analysts (Federal News Network).
- ~8,000
- positions moved into Schedule Policy/Career in June 2026
- 50,000
- positions OPM estimated could eventually move
- 97%
- of moved positions are GS-15 or Senior-Level
- ~4,900
- job codes listed in the White House appendix
The appendix lists job codes, not people, so it does not say how many employees each agency lost protections for. Protect Democracy, one of the groups suing, pointed out that a single listing “could indicate that a single job is being reclassified, or it could mean that three dozen jobs” were (Federal News Network). The count of codes still shows where the reach is widest.
The Defense Department listed more job codes for Schedule Policy/Career than the next four agencies combined.
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Defense: 1,600+ codes | 1600 |
| Homeland Security | 571 |
| Health and Human Services | 400 |
| Treasury | 223 |
| Commerce | 172 |
| Interior | 158 |
| Office of Management and Budget | 137 |
Counts are position description codes, which name job types, not employees. Source: Federal News Network analysis of the White House appendix.
From the Spoils System to Merit
The fight over Schedule F is the latest round in a 140-year argument about who federal jobs belong to. Congress created the merit system in 1883. Trump created Schedule F in October 2020, and Biden rescinded it in January 2021. Trump revived it in January 2025, OPM finalized the rule in February 2026, and the first 8,000 positions moved in June 2026.
- Pendleton Act creates merit hiring After Garfield is assassinated by an office-seeker, Congress ties federal hiring to examination, not patronage.
- Trump creates Schedule F Executive Order 13957 lets agencies make policy-role employees at-will.
- Biden rescinds Schedule F Executive Order 14003 reverses it before any worker is moved.
- Trump revives Schedule F Executive Order 14171 brings it back as Schedule Policy/Career.
- OPM finalizes the rule Published February 6 after 40,500 public comments; effective March 9.
- About 8,000 positions move Executive Order 14410 lists the jobs and gives agencies 7 days to notify workers.
Sources: Federal Register; Federal News Network; Britannica.
The civil service from Pendleton to Schedule Policy/Career, 1883 to 2026: 1883: Pendleton Act creates merit hiring (After Garfield is assassinated by an office-seeker, Congress ties federal hiring to examination, not patronage.). Oct 2020: Trump creates Schedule F (Executive Order 13957 lets agencies make policy-role employees at-will.). Jan 2021: Biden rescinds Schedule F (Executive Order 14003 reverses it before any worker is moved.). Jan 2025: Trump revives Schedule F (Executive Order 14171 brings it back as Schedule Policy/Career.). Feb 2026: OPM finalizes the rule (Published February 6 after 40,500 public comments; effective March 9.). Jun 2026: About 8,000 positions move (Executive Order 14410 lists the jobs and gives agencies 7 days to notify workers.).
1883: The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, signed January 16, 1883, created a merit-based civil service with hiring by competitive examination. It replaced the spoils system, under which each new administration handed government jobs to its supporters. Congress acted after Charles Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker, shot President James Garfield in 1881.
October 2020: President Trump signed Executive Order 13957 on October 21, 2020, creating Schedule F for employees in policy-influencing roles.
January 2021: President Biden rescinded Schedule F with Executive Order 14003 on January 22, 2021, before any employee was moved into it.
January 2025: Trump revived the policy with Executive Order 14171 on January 20, 2025, renaming the category Schedule Policy/Career.
February 2026: OPM published its final rule on February 6, 2026, after receiving 40,500 public comments. It took effect March 9 (Federal Register).
June 2026: Trump signed Executive Order 14410 on June 3, 2026, placing the positions in its 229-page appendix into Schedule Policy/Career and giving agencies seven days to notify the people in them.
Where Schedule Policy/Career Stands in September 2026
Verified September 24, 2026. Schedule Policy/Career is in effect, and the first round is complete. A second round appears to be underway.
- More jobs are being screened. The State Department began using a questionnaire in August to decide whether GS-13 and GS-14 employees should be moved, well below the GS-15 level the White House described (Government Executive).
- Some job postings already carry the label. A Partnership for Public Service review of 130-plus USAJOBS listings found nearly 10% tagged for Schedule Policy/Career at GS-13 or below (Government Executive).
- A new OPM proposal is open for comment. A September 18 proposed rule would let student and recent-graduate Pathways hires convert directly into Schedule Policy/Career. Comments close November 17, 2026 (Federal Register).
- Lawsuits are pending. Unions, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Democracy Forward are suing in federal court in Maryland. The Government Accountability Project and the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association filed another suit in June. None had stopped the rule in reporting through August. A separate 2025 order ended collective bargaining for federal workers at whole departments.
- Congress is asking questions. In July, 53 Democrats asked the White House for agency-by-agency numbers in a letter led by two Virginians, Representative James Walkinshaw and Senator Tim Kaine (Federal News Network).
What it means now: if your job moved, the change is already in effect. It stays in effect unless a court blocks it or Congress passes a law.
Career Experts Answer to the Law or the White House
Schedule Policy/Career decides how much room career experts have to tell political leaders something they do not want to hear. The jobs moved in June include program managers, attorney advisors, program analysts, and human resources specialists. The administration’s stated goal is employees “willing to and capable of carrying out directives.” Critics, including the Partnership for Public Service, warn that stripping protections will make it harder to recruit and keep experts, and the CDC employee’s account shows the other cost: people stop raising problems.
The protection can be restored the way it was created, by writing it into law. The Saving the Civil Service Act would require Congress to approve before any job is moved out of the competitive service.
The Honest Disagreement
Serious people disagree about Schedule Policy/Career, and the legal question and the policy question are not the same. One asks whether the law lets a president move these jobs out of the protected service. The other asks whether doing so is good for the country.
The case for it comes from the administration and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The order moving the jobs says that barely two-fifths of federal supervisors believe they could remove an employee for serious misconduct, and only a quarter believe they could remove a serious underperformer. OPM argues that the president needs to remove career staff who obstruct his directives, and that 50,000 positions, about 2% of the workforce, leaves “the overwhelming majority of the civil service” protected. The 2023 campaign plan behind the change promised to “shatter the Deep State,” a claim traced in where the deep state idea came from.
The case against it comes from federal unions, Democracy Forward, Protect Democracy, and the Partnership for Public Service. They argue that Congress used the phrase “policy-making” to mean political appointees, not career staff, and that tying jobs to compliance invites cronyism. Rob Shriver of Civil Service Strong says many moved employees report jobs “entirely unrelated to policy.” Not every expert predicts the worst. Ronald Sanders, a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, argued in June that the new schedule “will not, necessarily, politicize the civil service.”
Where the dispute narrows is on the merit principle itself. Both sides say hiring should stay merit-based. The fight is over whether removing appeal rights protects accountability or reopens the patronage door the country closed in 1883. Courts have not yet answered the legal question.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Schedule Policy/Career the same as Schedule F?
It is the same policy under a new name. Executive Order 14171 in January 2025 revived the 2020 Schedule F order and renamed the category.
How do I know if my federal job was moved into Schedule Policy/Career?
Agencies had to notify affected employees within seven days of the June 3 order. You can also match the position description number on your SF-50 form against the White House appendix.
Can a Schedule Policy/Career employee still be fired for their politics?
The rule says no. Firing someone for political affiliation or whistleblowing is still a prohibited personnel practice. The difference is that the complaint goes to the employee’s own agency, not the independent Office of Special Counsel, and there is no appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Can Congress stop Schedule F?
Yes. Because Schedule Policy/Career runs on executive orders and an OPM rule, a law can override it. The Saving the Civil Service Act would require congressional approval before jobs are moved.
What You Can Do
- If you are a federal employee, find out where you stand. Check your SF-50 against the White House appendix and read your agency’s new internal policies. Your union and Civil Service Strong can help you understand your options.
- If you work with federal employees or rely on their work, speak up publicly. The CDC employee’s fear was about losing the freedom to question methods. Scientists, grantees, and local officials who depend on that independence can say so to their members of Congress.
- Comment on OPM’s new proposal by November 17, 2026. The September 18 proposed rule would let Pathways hires convert directly into Schedule Policy/Career. Anyone can comment through the Federal Register page.
- Learn the larger plan. Our Project 2025 tracker checks the blueprint that made Schedule F a centerpiece of presidential control over the bureaucracy, proposal by proposal.
- Ask your members of Congress to cosponsor the Saving the Civil Service Act. H.R. 492 has 109 House cosponsors, including Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick, Don Bacon, Mike Lawler, and Derrick Van Orden. S. 134, led by Senator Tim Kaine, has 24 and no Republicans. Use the letter and call script below.