Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce
This executive order (Executive Order 14171) reinstates and expands what amounts to a Schedule F–style track—referred to here as Schedule Policy/Career positions—for certain federal employees who influence policy. The order moves to reclassify more positions into this new category, granting the President and agency leadership greater ability to remove or discipline employees who do not faithfully implement administration policies. It also withdraws or overrides key civil service protections put in place in 2020–2021 and directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to rescind related 2024 regulatory changes, while instructing agencies to identify additional positions to consider for Schedule Policy/Career placement. Overall, the order shifts the balance of protection and accountability in the federal workforce toward stronger presidential control over policy-influencing staff, with potential implications for merit-based protections and job security for affected employees. The order is a significant administrative restructuring: it revives a more easily dismissible track for certain policy-influencing roles, amends prior policy (EO 13957) with new naming and procedures, revokes protections from EO 14003, and directs rapid regulatory and guidance changes through OPM. It explicitly states there is no intended creation of enforceable legal rights for individuals, but it could materially affect hiring, retention, and leadership accountability in federal agencies, especially for those in policy-making or advisory capacities.
Key Points
- 1Restores and renames the Schedule F concept as Schedule Policy/Career positions, expanding categories of federal positions designated as policy-influencing and subject to different performance and accountability rules.
- 2Creates a new provision stating that employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the President or current administration, but must faithfully implement administration policies; failure to do so can be grounds for dismissal.
- 3Reinstates Executive Order 13957 (the Schedule F framework) with amendments, treating the date of this order as the date for the purposes of that EO, while replacing references to “F” with “Policy/Career” and adjusting various sections to align with the new framework.
- 4Directs the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to promptly amend Civil Service Regulations by rescinding changes made by the 2024 final rule that limited merit protections, effectively sidelining those protections as they relate to Schedule Policy/Career positions, and to hold certain regulatory provisions inoperative until rescissions are completed.
- 5Requires the Director to issue guidance within 30 days on additional categories of positions that should be considered for Schedule Policy/Career, after consultation with the White House, expanding the scope over time.
- 6Revokes Executive Order 14003 (Protecting the Federal Workforce) and directs agency heads to review and suspend or rescind related actions, signaling a broad rollback of protections that previously limited discipline and performance policy changes.