Washington, D.C., June 8, 2026 — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that shifts approximately 8,000 career civil servants into a new employment category known as Schedule Policy/Career (Schedule P/C). This June 3 directive targets senior federal employees in policy determining, policy making, or policy advocating roles, primarily at the GS-15 level.
This order removes standard civil service protections for these workers. Firing a federal worker typically involves extensive procedural safeguards, including advance notice, performance improvement plans, and the right to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Now, agencies can quickly terminate Schedule Policy/Career employees without these administrative protections.
Additionally, these workers can no longer file whistleblower retaliation complaints directly with the Office of Special Counsel. They must rely on internal agency procedures instead.
Federal employment attorney Justin Schnitzer commented:
“This reclassification turns thousands of federal roles into at-will positions. It removes federal employees’ ability to challenge removals through the usual administrative channels. It could lead to politically motivated firings and silence whistleblowers who might otherwise report agency waste or fraud.
Schedule P/C is bad for workers and bad for the merit-based civil service that has benefited America for the past 143 years.”
If you are among the federal workers reclassified into Schedule Policy/Career, your agency must notify you and issue an updated Standard Form 50 to document the movement and reflect the changes in your conditions of employment. However, as of March 2026, federal employees cannot appeal to MSPB for actions related to reclassification “into an excepted service position without civil service protection.” This means your options to fight the initial conversion internally are limited.
If you’ve been reclassified, contact an experienced federal employment lawyer to review your legal options and protect your livelihood.