Protecting the Federal Workforce
The order revokes Schedule F — a 2020 executive order that created a new class of federal employees who could be dismissed more easily — and simultaneously strikes down three 2018 orders that had restricted federal employee union rights and collective bargaining.
It restores standard civil service protections for affected career employees, directs agencies to unwind actions taken under the revoked orders, broadens what topics agencies must negotiate with unions over, and tasks OPM with recommending a path to a $15/hour federal minimum wage.
What this order does
What it orders
The order revokes EO 13957, which had created a "Schedule F" excepted-service category allowing certain policy-influencing federal employees to be reclassified outside normal civil service protections. It directs all agency heads to immediately suspend, revise, or rescind any actions taken to implement Schedule F, and directs the OPM Director to stop processing or granting any pending petitions to convert positions to Schedule F. It also revokes three May 2018 executive orders governing federal-sector collective bargaining and union time use, as well as a related 2019 presidential memorandum, and disbands the Interagency Labor Relations Working Group.
Heads of agencies covered by the revoked collective bargaining orders must review existing agency actions taken under those orders and, as soon as practicable, suspend, revise, or rescind them. The order further directs every agency subject to federal labor-management relations law to elect to bargain with unions over permissive subjects of bargaining, and instructs the OPM Director to deliver a report to the President with recommendations for achieving a $15/hour minimum wage for federal employees.
Who it affects
Career federal civil servants whose positions had been or were being converted to Schedule F, federal employee unions bargaining with executive agencies, heads of all executive departments and agencies subject to federal labor-management relations law, and the Office of Personnel Management.
Why it matters
Federal employees whose positions were reclassified under Schedule F regain standard civil service removal protections immediately. Unions gain a stronger collective bargaining posture as agencies must now negotiate over a broader set of workplace topics, and OPM must recommend a wage floor that could raise pay for the lowest-paid federal workers.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
Implementation runs in parallel tracks. OPM must immediately stop processing Schedule F petitions and withdraw guidance from the now-disbanded Interagency Labor Relations Working Group that conflicts with the new policy. Agency heads must simultaneously halt Schedule F conversions and conduct a review of actions taken under the three revoked bargaining orders, then move to suspend, revise, or rescind those actions — or publish proposed rules to do so — as soon as practicable. A severability clause ensures any provision struck down does not void the rest of the order.
Actions and deadlines
- All agency heads suspend, revise, or rescind any actions taken to implement Schedule F under EO 13957
- OPM Director cease processing or granting petitions to convert positions to or create positions in Schedule F
- OPM Director withdraw all Interagency Labor Relations Working Group materials inconsistent with the new policy
- Heads of affected agencies review and identify existing agency actions arising from the three revoked collective bargaining orders
- Heads of affected agencies suspend, revise, or rescind — or publish proposed rules to do so for — actions identified in the review
- Each agency subject to 5 U.S.C. chapter 71 elect to negotiate over permissive subjects of bargaining under 5 U.S.C. 7106(b)(1)
- OPM Director provide a report to the President with recommendations to promote a $15/hour minimum wage for federal employees
Agencies directed to act
Authority and reach
What this order changes
Revokes Executive Order 13957