A new Trump executive order would create a “Schedule Policy/Career” classification for certain federal employees whose jobs involve policy influence, moving them out of traditional civil-service protections and making removals easier, according to FedSmith. The order also directs agencies to set up a dedicated bonus pool to reward top performers within the newly classified group.
- New category: “Schedule Policy/Career” for positions with policy-influencing duties, per FedSmith.
- Estimated scope: Roughly 8,000 federal employees would be reclassified, FedSmith reported.
- Job protections reduced: Employees shifted into the new schedule would have fewer traditional civil-service protections and could be easier to remove than under standard competitive/excepted service rules, according to FedSmith.
- Performance pay directive: Agencies would be instructed to create a dedicated bonus pool for the affected workforce and use it to reward top performers, FedSmith said.
- Who could be affected: The focus is on roles tied to policy development, policy advocacy, or policy implementation influence, as described by FedSmith’s summary of the order.
- Operational impact: Agencies would need to identify covered positions and manage conversions into the new schedule while also establishing bonus criteria and funding mechanisms, FedSmith reported.
The proposed Schedule Policy/Career approach echoes prior efforts to separate policy-related roles from the broader civil service framework. FedSmith framed the order as aimed at increasing managerial flexibility for policy-influencing positions while pairing that flexibility with targeted performance incentives.
For employees, the practical questions are whether a position is deemed “policy-influencing,” what due-process or appeal rights would apply after reclassification, and how performance ratings would tie to the new bonus pool. Workers who believe their duties are not policy-related may want to review their position description and performance plan language and monitor agency implementation guidance as it emerges. For background on how federal job categories and protections generally work, employees can reference FedBrief’s policy analysis.
FedSmith did not provide, in its summary, a detailed agency-by-agency breakdown of which occupations would be included, but it estimated the total affected population at about 8,000 employees and highlighted both the reduced removal protections and the new bonus pool requirement as central features of the executive order.
Source: FedSmith