President Trump issued an executive order last week reclassifying about 8,000 non-partisan federal jobs into a new excepted service category called Schedule Policy/Career.
The number of positions being converted to the new Schedule P/C hiring authority is much smaller than the administration initially estimated when President Trump issued his first order creating the new schedule on the first day of his current administration, but the impact remains the same, AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.
“Thousands of employees who were hired under the nonpartisan, professional civil service will be converted to a new hiring schedule where they can be fired ‘at will’ by political appointees or other overseers with essentially no procedural or appeal safeguards that have long protected the integrity of government operations,” Kelley said in a press statement issued immediately after the order was signed June 3.
“The practical implications of this action are clear. Workers who once felt comfortable reporting waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement at their place of employment because they were protected from retaliation will now be afraid for their jobs if they speak out. That is a disservice to them and to the millions of Americans who rely on the federal government every day.”
The executive order also directs agencies to set aside money and use existing award authorities to provide bonuses to Schedule P/C employees under a presidential award program to be created by the Office of Personnel Management. So, employees who dutifully follow the administration’s orders stand to be financially rewarded, while anyone deemed insubordinate could be fired at a moment’s notice.
AFGE, along with other plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit challenging Schedule P/C in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Along with the AFGE General Counsel’s Office, AFGE is represented in the lawsuit by Democracy Forward, CREW, and Jonathan Weissglass.
President Trump issued an executive order last week reclassifying about 8,000 non-partisan federal jobs into a new excepted service category called Schedule Policy/Career.
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