Schedule F Reinstated: Federal Worker Purge Begins

Event Summary

On January 20, 2025, immediately following his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14171 titled "Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce." This action reinstated the controversial Schedule F classification from his first term, which had been rescinded by President Biden in 2021. The order rebrands Schedule F as "Schedule Policy/Career" and aims to strip employment protections from tens of thousands of federal employees in positions deemed to have policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating characteristics.

The executive order represents a significant escalation in the effort to replace career civil servants with political loyalists. The action fulfills Trump's campaign promise to "dismantle the deep state" by giving the executive branch unprecedented power to dismiss federal workers who are perceived as insufficiently loyal or who resist administration policies.

The White House explicitly stated the goal was to enable agencies to "swiftly remove employees in policy-influencing roles for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or subversion of Presidential directives, without lengthy procedural hurdles."

Impact

• Approximately 40,000-50,000 federal employees could be reclassified as at-will workers
• Removes civil service protections and due process rights for affected workers
• Allows for dismissal based on political considerations rather than performance
• Threatens the non-partisan nature of the federal civil service
• Enables rapid replacement of career officials with political appointees
• Risks loss of institutional knowledge and expertise in government operations

Timeline Context

This executive order was signed on Inauguration Day (Day One) of Trump's second presidency, marking it as an immediate priority for the administration. The original Schedule F was created in October 2020 during Trump's first term but was rescinded by President Biden shortly after his January 2021 inauguration. Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to restore Schedule F as a key component of his strategy to reshape the federal government and eliminate resistance to his policy agenda.

Implementation progressed on April 18, 2025, when the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a proposed rule titled "Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service" to provide guidance for agencies on implementing the Schedule Policy/Career classification. A 30-day public comment period concluded on May 23, 2025. The rule established a 90-day deadline for agencies to submit initial filings to reclassify positions.

Legal challenges from federal employee unions, including the National Treasury Employees Union, were filed within hours of the executive order's signing.

Source Citations

1. White House - Executive Order 14171: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce (January 20, 2025)

   • Original: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-accountability-to-policy-influencing-positions-within-the-federal-workforce/
   • Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20250121000000/https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-accountability-to-policy-influencing-positions-within-the-federal-workforce/

2. CBS News - Trump signs executive order reinstating Schedule F for federal workers (January 20, 2025)

   • Original: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-order-schedule-f-federal-workers/
   • Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20250121000000/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-order-schedule-f-federal-workers/

3. Wikipedia - Schedule F appointment

   • Provides background on original 2020 executive order and reinstatement

4. Multiple news sources confirming 50,000 worker impact estimate