Since the Pendleton Act of 1883, most federal employees have been hired on merit and protected from being fired for political reasons. Presidents have long complained that career officials slow or resist their policies. Schedule F was designed to give Presidents more control over the career employees who help write and carry out policy, and it has become the central battle in a wider fight over the civil service.
This guide explains how the schedule works, its history, the legal fight, and the arguments on both sides.
The National Treasury Employees Union sued the day the order was reinstated, and other unions and groups filed suits challenging the order and the final rule. Challengers argue that the Civil Service Reform Act limits which positions can be excepted from protections and that the rule exceeds the President's authority. The administration argues that the law has always allowed exceptions for policy-making positions. Cases were pending in federal courts in 2026, with the litigation affected by the Supreme Court's broader rulings on presidential control of the executive branch.
On October 21, 2020, an executive order created Schedule F for positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and agencies began identifying positions, but few were moved before the administration ended. President Biden revoked the order in January 2021, and in 2024 OPM issued rules protecting employees from involuntary reclassification. On January 20, 2025, the new administration reinstated the order, renamed the category Schedule Policy/Career, and separately created Schedule G for noncareer policy advocates.
Schedule Policy/Career is one of several 2025 changes to the civil service, along with large reductions in force, the end of collective bargaining for many agencies on national security grounds, a new process for probationary employees, and changes to hiring. Congress has considered bills both to codify the schedule and to block it, including the Saving the Civil Service Act. Agencies also reassigned and removed senior career officials in 2025.
Most career federal employees who complete probation can be fired only for cause, such as misconduct or poor performance, and they can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Political appointees, by contrast, serve at the pleasure of the administration. Some excepted service categories, such as Schedule C for confidential political staff, have long existed, but they cover relatively few positions. Schedule F created a new category for career employees whose work influences policy.
OPM proposed rules in April 2025 and published a final rule on February 6, 2026. Positions designated as policy-influencing are excluded from the usual performance and adverse action procedures, and the rule rescinded the 2024 protections for employees reclassified involuntarily. Employees remain career appointees, hired on merit and barred from being required to support a party, but they can be removed for failing to faithfully carry out administration policy. OPM estimated that about 2 percent of the workforce, roughly 50,000 positions, could be affected.
Supporters say elected Presidents must be able to direct the officials who shape policy, that firing poor performers has been too difficult, and that unelected bureaucrats should not obstruct the voters' choice. Critics say the change revives the spoils system, invites political loyalty tests, chills honest advice from experts, and could drive away skilled employees. Many scholars across the spectrum agree that civil service rules need reform but disagree on whether this approach strikes the right balance between accountability and neutrality.
See how federal jobs are filled in how federal hiring works, learn about federal unions in government employee unions, or compare career and political officials in civil servants vs. elected officials.