OPM has finalized a rule creating a new federal civil service category — Schedule Policy/Career — that allows agencies to place certain policy-influencing positions into an at-will status while keeping them nonpartisan career jobs, according to the Office of Personnel Management’s Feb. 6, 2026 Federal Register notice.
- Rule: Improving Performance, Accountability, and Responsiveness in the Civil Service (final rule)
- Published: Feb. 6, 2026, in the Federal Register (OPM)
- What it does: Establishes Schedule Policy/Career for positions OPM says have policy-influencing duties
- Employment status: Positions remain career and nonpartisan, but are treated as at-will under the rule, per OPM
- Due process changes: Employees in Schedule Policy/Career are excluded from standard adverse action procedures and appeals, enabling faster removals for performance or misconduct, according to OPM
- Agency action: Agencies would be able to move covered positions into the new schedule under criteria described in the rule, per OPM
- Stated purpose: OPM says the rule is intended to improve accountability and responsiveness in the civil service
OPM’s final rule creates a new mechanism for agencies to reclassify certain roles that OPM describes as influencing policy. While OPM emphasizes these jobs remain within the career workforce and are not political appointments, the rule changes how removals and other actions can be handled by excluding these positions from the traditional adverse action framework and related appeal rights.
For federal employees, the immediate practical impact is that a position designated as Schedule Policy/Career could be subject to accelerated removal processes compared with competitive service and many excepted service positions that retain standard procedural protections. OPM frames the change as a performance and misconduct accountability tool, reducing the time and process agencies must follow to separate employees in covered roles.
Employees and supervisors will likely focus on whether a job’s duties meet OPM’s definition of “policy-influencing,” how agencies document and implement conversions, and what internal agency procedures (if any) apply when standard adverse action and appeals routes do not. Workers who believe their position is incorrectly designated may need to closely track agency guidance and OPM criteria as implementation rolls out.
For additional background on federal adverse actions and employee protections, see FedBrief’s coverage and explainers (limited cross-link): https://fedbrief.org/
Source: Office of Personnel Management, “Improving Performance, Accountability, and Responsiveness in the Civil Service” (final rule), Federal Register, Feb. 6, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/02/06/2026-02375/improving-performance-accountability-and-responsiveness-in-the-civil-service