Trump strips due process rights from thousands of federal workers
President Trump signed an executive order moving about 8,000 federal jobs into a new Schedule Policy/Career category, stripping their civil service due process protections.
President Trump has signed an executive order reclassifying roughly 8,000 nonpartisan federal jobs into a new excepted service category called Schedule Policy/Career, or Schedule P/C. The change strips long standing civil service protections from the affected workers, allowing them to be fired at will by political appointees with almost no procedural or appeal safeguards.
The number of positions being converted is smaller than the administration first estimated, but AFGE National President Everett Kelley warned that the impact is just as serious. Employees hired under the nonpartisan, professional civil service can now be removed without the due process that has long protected the integrity of government operations.
Kelley said the practical effect is clear. Workers who once felt safe reporting waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement because they were shielded from retaliation will now think twice before speaking up. "That is a disservice to them and to the millions of Americans who rely on the federal government every day," he said in a statement after the order was signed on June 3.
The order also directs agencies to use existing award authorities to pay bonuses to Schedule P/C employees through a new presidential award program. In practice, that means workers who follow the administration's orders could be financially rewarded, while anyone viewed as insubordinate could be fired at a moment's notice.
AFGE, along with other plaintiffs, has filed a lawsuit challenging Schedule P/C in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. AFGE is represented by its General Counsel's Office along with Democracy Forward, CREW, and attorney Jonathan Weissglass.
Due process protects every federal worker
The protections under attack here are the same ones that let federal employees do their jobs without fear of political retaliation. An attack on civil service rights at any agency is a threat to all of us.
This summary is adapted from a report by the American Federation of Government Employees. Read the full article at AFGE.org. Image courtesy of AFGE.