Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service
The order creates a new civil service category — Schedule F — for federal employees in policy-related positions, directly amending the federal civil service regulations to remove standard competitive-service hiring rules and adverse-action protections from those positions.
It represents a fundamental structural shift in how the federal government can hire and fire career employees who work on policy matters, giving agencies substantially more flexibility to dismiss workers without following the procedural protections that normally apply to career civil servants.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directly amends 5 CFR 6.2 and 6.4 to add Schedule F to the excepted service, a new category covering federal career positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character that are not normally subject to change during a presidential transition. Positions placed in Schedule F are exempted from civil service competitive-hiring procedures and from the chapter 75 adverse-action protections — the procedural safeguards that normally govern employee removals. Agency heads are required to conduct preliminary and complete reviews of covered positions, petition the Office of Personnel Management Director to move qualifying positions into Schedule F, and petition the Federal Labor Relations Authority regarding collective bargaining unit status. OPM must adopt implementing regulations and issue transition guidance.
No existing employee is automatically reclassified on day one; each position moves to Schedule F only after an agency petition, OPM approval, and — for positions excepted from competitive service by statute — Federal Register publication. The order prohibits the same prohibited personnel practices under 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b) that apply elsewhere in the federal workforce. It explicitly does not narrow Schedule C or create any judicially enforceable rights for third parties.
Who it affects
Federal career employees in policy-related positions across executive agencies — including those who draft regulations, supervise attorneys, participate in policy deliberations, or conduct collective bargaining on the agency's behalf — whose positions may be reclassified into Schedule F and lose standard civil service removal protections.
Why it matters
Career federal employees whose positions are moved to Schedule F can be dismissed without the procedural safeguards — notice periods, appeal rights, and burden-of-proof requirements — that ordinarily apply to competitive-service workers. This changes the practical job security of potentially thousands of mid- and senior-level policy staff across the federal government.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
Schedule F takes effect as a legal category upon signing through direct amendments to 5 CFR 6.2 and 6.4. Individual positions move into it only after a multi-step process: each agency head conducts a preliminary review (90 days), then a complete review (210 days), and annually thereafter. Qualifying positions are petitioned to the OPM Director, who must approve or deny each petition. By December 31 each year, the OPM Director reports petition outcomes to the President through OMB and the Domestic Policy Assistant. OPM must also issue regulations and transition guidance to shift positions from existing appointment processes to Schedule F.
Actions and deadlines
- Each agency head conducts a preliminary review of positions covered by chapter 75, subchapter II
- Each agency head completes a full review of covered positions and petitions OPM to place qualifying positions in Schedule F
- Each agency head conducts ongoing annual reviews of covered positions thereafter
- OPM Director adopts regulations to implement Schedule F, including amendments to 5 CFR parts 212, 213, and 302
- OPM Director provides guidance on an orderly transition to the Schedule F appointment process
- OPM Director reports annually to the President on petitions granted and denied for each agency
- Agency heads petition the Federal Labor Relations Authority to determine collective bargaining unit exclusions for Schedule F positions