Trump Strips Civil Service Protections From Nearly 8,000 Workers
A new executive order turns nearly 8,000 senior federal employees into at-will workers who can be fired without cause, as the largest union vows a legal fight.
- Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, June 3, formalizing a new category of employees called Schedule Policy/Career.
- The measure covers nearly 8,000 federal workers who lose the protections of the civil service system.
- About 97 percent of the reclassified positions sit at the GS-15 level or higher, and the jobs become fireable without stated cause.
- The largest federal workers' union, the AFGE, has announced it will challenge the order.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, June 3, stripping nearly 8,000 senior federal employees of the protections long guaranteed to them under the American civil service system. The order formalizes a new staffing category called Schedule Policy/Career and converts their jobs into so-called at-will positions, meaning the government can dismiss them without giving any reason.
For Serbia and the wider Balkans this is not a distant administrative matter. Diplomacy, trade arrangements and security cooperation with Washington rest on a layer of experienced career officials who manage their files for years regardless of who occupies the White House. A change that makes those people easy to remove alters the way Washington talks to its partners, the region included.
What exactly does the new order change?
Under the new order, the reclassified positions no longer enjoy the procedural protections that have applied to career employees. Instead of a right to due process before dismissal, an official in such a role can be removed at the discretion of management.
- The measure covers nearly 8,000 federal positions.
- About 97 percent of those jobs sit at the GS-15 pay grade or higher, the most senior tier of the career administration.
- Reclassified posts become at-will, with no obligation on the government to explain a dismissal.
This formalizes an approach the administration had signaled earlier, one that critics compare to a previous attempt to introduce the so-called Schedule F. Supporters argue it gives the government full control over key personnel, while opponents warn that it opens the door to political purges within a previously neutral administration.
Why are the unions reacting so sharply?
The largest federal employees’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), immediately announced it would challenge the order. The union argues that the measure undermines the foundation of a professional civil service, built over decades to be resilient against changes of government.
AFGE president Everett Kelley put the message bluntly:
This is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by ending employees’ rights to due process so they can be fired for political reasons.
The union believes the result could be a drain of experience from the federal administration, since officials without protection have less reason to stay in a system under pressure. The government, for its part, frames the measure as a tool for greater accountability and faster management.
One question will be answered only in the courts and in practice over the coming months: will this order actually make the American administration more efficient, or will it turn a neutral civil service into an extension of day-to-day politics?
