Overview
- President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, that moves roughly 8,000 senior policy‑influencing positions into a new Schedule Policy/Career category and makes those roles effectively at‑will.
- Employees placed in the new category lose the right to challenge many adverse personnel actions before the Merit Systems Protection Board and will in some cases have whistleblower complaints investigated by their own agencies rather than the independent Office of Special Counsel.
- The administration says the change will improve accountability by letting agencies remove senior officials who refuse to carry out presidential directives, while OPM Director Scott Kupor denied the order creates political loyalty tests.
- Federal unions and good‑government groups warn the policy will politicize the civil service, chill whistleblowing, and invite retaliatory firings, and several organizations have expanded lawsuits that immediately followed the order.
- The move revives the Trump era 'Schedule F' effort but is narrower than earlier OPM estimates of up to 50,000 vulnerable posts; agencies including HHS have already begun reclassifying staff and courts and Congress could shape the policy’s future.