The executive order seeks to exempt federal employees from civil service protections, effectively allowing these workers to be fired at will. The ruling would create a new class of workers who serve in positions deemed “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating,” which would no longer be shielded from political influence. This marks a sharp departure from previous presidential administrations, where only a handful of federal positions were treated as political appointments.
The unions argue that the move is an overstep, contending that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) can only rescind protections for these workers through a formal rulemaking process, which is both time-consuming and legally bound. Trump’s executive order also directs OPM to disregard the Biden administration’s rule, deeming it “inoperative” until formally repealed.
Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, expressed strong disapproval of the move, calling it a “shameless attempt to politicize the federal workforce” and warning that communities would bear the consequences of undermining worker protections. He further criticized the administration for trying to strip workers of their long-standing rights.
This lawsuit marks the second challenge to Trump’s executive action. The National Treasury Employees Union, representing 150,000 federal workers, filed a similar complaint last week, accusing Trump of unjustly creating new exemptions without proper justification. The federal law allows the president to exempt positions from civil service protections, but only when deemed “necessary” and in the interest of “good administration.”
Trump’s action is seen as a revival of his previous “Schedule F” initiative, which was introduced in 2020 but rescinded by President Biden in 2021. The 2024 rule was designed as a safeguard to prevent the reintroduction of Schedule F, ensuring that workers who are reclassified under such policies would still retain the legal protections they had earned.
This legal battle underscores the ongoing tension over federal worker protections and the future of the civil service under changing political administrations.
