Competitive vs. Excepted Service

The Pendleton Act of 1883 created the classified, or competitive, service, in which jobs were filled through competitive examinations rather than political patronage. It covered only about 10 percent of federal jobs at first, but presidents expanded it steadily, and by the mid-twentieth century most federal positions were competitive. Jobs that Congress, the President, or the Office of Personnel Management exempt from competitive hiring make up the excepted service, which now includes roughly a third of the civilian workforce.

Competitive service jobs are publicly announced, applicants are rated against published qualifications, and veterans receive preference points, and after a probationary period, usually one year, employees gain protections against removal except for cause. The excepted service includes whole agencies with their own personnel systems, such as the FBI, the CIA, and the Foreign Service, and specific categories set by schedule: Schedule A for jobs such as attorneys and positions for people with disabilities, Schedule B for certain specialized roles, Schedule C for political aides, Schedule D for students and recent graduates, and Schedule E for administrative law judges.

Because the line between the two services determines who can be hired and fired and how, it is a recurring battleground. In February 2025 agencies fired thousands of probationary employees, who have fewer protections, and an April 2025 order required managers to affirmatively certify probationers before they gain tenure, while a revived Schedule Policy/Career category would move some career policy jobs into the excepted service. Supporters of expanding flexibility say the competitive process is slow and makes it hard to hire and remove workers, while critics say each exception weakens the merit system and invites political hiring.