Schedule F is a federal job classification, renamed Schedule Policy/Career in 2025, that moves career employees whose work is considered policy-related out of the competitive civil service and into the excepted service, where they can be fired without the usual due-process protections. The Office of Personnel Management estimates roughly 50,000 positions — about two percent of the federal civilian workforce — could be reclassified.1Office of Personnel Management. 5 CFR Parts 210, 212, 302, 432, 752 – Schedule Policy/Career Final Rule The classification is the subject of active federal litigation and has not been permanently settled by Congress.
What the Classification Actually Does
Federal civilian jobs sit in one of two systems. The competitive service uses merit-based hiring and gives employees documented protections against being fired without cause. The excepted service is a looser category for jobs that don’t fit that framework. Schedule F, created by Executive Order 13957 on October 21, 2020, added a new slot inside the excepted service specifically for career employees whose duties involve policy work.2The White House. Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted Service
The consequence for an employee is direct. Under the standard system, removing a career federal worker requires the agency to prove its case, and the employee can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.3U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. Appellant Questions and Answers Schedule F positions sit outside that framework, because 5 U.S.C. § 7511(b)(2) already excludes positions designated as policy-influencing from the adverse-action rules.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 7511 – Definitions; Application A reclassified employee keeps the job, but loses the appeal rights and procedural safeguards that came with it.
Which Federal Jobs Are Covered
The classification applies to positions described as “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” that would not normally turn over when a new president takes office.2The White House. Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted Service The wording tracks the statutory exclusion in § 7511(b)(2) but reaches far more broadly than it had been used before.
In practice, that description covers a wide range of career roles: attorneys advising agencies on regulatory strategy, economists modeling the effects of proposed rules, scientists whose research informs policy, and the mid-level managers who supervise them. Even lower-graded employees can fit if their duties involve substantial policy input. Federal employees in rulemaking, regulatory analysis, legal counsel, budget formulation, or program design are the most likely to be pulled in.
For scale: the roughly 50,000 positions OPM has estimated is more than ten times the roughly 4,000 political appointees a typical administration places across the executive branch.1Office of Personnel Management. 5 CFR Parts 210, 212, 302, 432, 752 – Schedule Policy/Career Final Rule
What a Reclassified Employee Loses
Moving into Schedule Policy/Career strips out three things at once. First, the right to challenge a removal before the Merit Systems Protection Board. Second, the procedural protections under 5 U.S.C. § 7511 — written notice, an opportunity to respond, and a decision based on documented cause.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 7511 – Definitions; Application Third, according to the National Treasury Employees Union, reclassified employees also fall outside the statutory protections against prohibited personnel practices like political coercion and nepotism unless their agency has separately negotiated those safeguards.
The 2025 order carves out one guardrail. It states that employees in these positions “are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration,” but they must “faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability,” and failure to do so “is grounds for dismissal.”5The White House. Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce The distinction between private political views and on-the-job implementation is where most real disputes will land, and how agencies read “faithfully implement” will decide those cases.
Why This Keeps Coming Back
Schedule F has been created, revoked, blocked, and reinstated within five years, which is why federal employees ask about it repeatedly.
Executive Order 13957 created the classification in October 2020, but the January 2021 change in administration arrived before most agencies had finished reviewing which positions to move. On January 22, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14003, revoking 13957, halting reviews, and restoring any positions that had already been transitioned.6The American Presidency Project. Executive Order 14003 – Protecting the Federal Workforce
Because one executive order can be undone by the next, the Biden administration added a regulatory layer. On April 9, 2024, OPM published a final rule (89 FR 24982) amending 5 CFR Parts 210, 212, 302, 432, and 752 to define “policy-influencing” positions as exclusively noncareer political appointments, impose procedural requirements before any reclassification, and preserve adverse-action protections even after a move.7Federal Register. Upholding Civil Service Protections and Merit System Principles
That regulatory shield did not hold. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce,” which reinstated Executive Order 13957 “with full force and effect,” revoked Executive Order 14003, and directed OPM to rescind the 2024 rule.5The White House. Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce The order declared key provisions of the 2024 rule — including 5 CFR Part 302 Subpart F and 5 CFR 210.102(b)(3) and (b)(4) — “inoperative and without effect” pending formal rescission. In early 2026, OPM issued a final rule rescinding those Biden-era protections across the affected CFR parts.1Office of Personnel Management. 5 CFR Parts 210, 212, 302, 432, 752 – Schedule Policy/Career Final Rule
What Changed in the 2025 Version
The reinstated classification is not identical to the 2020 original. Several changes matter:5The White House. Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce
- The name is now Schedule Policy/Career, not Schedule F.
- The order adds the loyalty-versus-implementation language described above.
- OPM was given 30 days to issue guidance on additional categories agencies should consider, including roles that supervise other Schedule Policy/Career employees.
- Approval is centralized: OPM recommends positions directly to the President rather than agencies petitioning OPM.
Where Things Stand in the Courts and Congress
Federal employee unions sued immediately. On January 20, 2025, NTEU filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking the court to block the order.8National Treasury Employees Union. NTEU v. Trump, Case No. 1:25-cv-00170 As of the most recent tracking data, four separate lawsuits are pending; no court has granted injunctive relief.9Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network. Litigation Tracker
The core legal dispute is whether the president can use 5 U.S.C. § 3302, which allows exceptions to competitive-service rules “as conditions of good administration warrant,” to reach career employees Congress intended to protect under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 3302 – Competitive Service; Rules The unions argue the “confidential, policy-determining” exclusion in § 7511(b)(2) was meant to apply narrowly to political appointees. The administration argues the statutory text imposes no such limit.
On the legislative side, H.R. 492, the Saving the Civil Service Act, was introduced with bipartisan sponsorship on January 16, 2025, and would prohibit Schedule F or any equivalent classification.11GovInfo. H.R. 492 (IH) – Saving the Civil Service Act A related bill, H.R. 2550, the Protect America’s Workforce Act, was also introduced.12Congress.gov. H.R.2550 – 119th Congress: Protect America’s Workforce Act Both were referred to committee and have not advanced. A bill that restricts presidential authority over the executive workforce would need enough votes to survive a veto, so absent congressional action, the classification will continue to swing with each administration or be settled by the courts.
What Federal Employees Can Do Now
If you work in a policy-adjacent career role, the first practical step is finding out whether your position appears on your agency’s list of proposed reclassifications. Agencies were on a timeline that ran from January 20, 2025: preliminary review lists were expected by late April 2025, and complete reviews by mid-August 2025.
If you believe you have been improperly reclassified, the remedial landscape is limited. The Back Pay Act does not automatically entitle a federal worker to compensation based solely on a wrongful-classification claim, as established in United States v. Testan. The realistic route runs through the pending federal litigation: a court order blocking the program would apply across the board rather than case by case. Union membership matters here, because NTEU and other federal employee unions are the plaintiffs driving those cases and are the source of the individualized guidance available to affected workers.