The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has finalized a new federal civil service rule establishing a category called Schedule Policy/Career within the excepted service to “strengthen accountability” for certain federal employees in policy-influencing roles. It’s expected to affect roughly 50,000 civil servants.
This final rule implements Executive Order 14171, which directs OPM to modernize how positions that help shape, determine, or advocate policy are designated and managed across the federal government. The goal is to make it easier to hold employees in these roles accountable for poor performance or misconduct.
Under the rule:
- Schedule Policy/Career roles remain career positions filled through merit-based hiring, including veterans’ preference.
- But they are excepted from standard adverse action and appeals procedures that have historically made it hard to remove poor performers. This means agencies can suspend, demote, or terminate these federal employees without the lengthy procedural protections that normally apply.
- Political patronage or loyalty tests are explicitly prohibited, and discrimination based on political affiliation remains barred.
The rule will take effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register (Feb. 5, 2026), but specific positions still must be designated Schedule Policy/Career through future executive actions.
Implementation Guidance Highlights
OPM has also issued implementation guidance to help agencies adopt the new rule. Key points include:
- Agencies are directed to begin reviewing existing positions for potential placement into Schedule Policy/Career and to submit petitions identifying roles that fit the criteria (confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating).
- Agencies retain responsibility for updating internal policies and procedures, including performance management and disciplinary processes.
- OPM’s guidance stresses that these roles should remain merit-based, with hiring focused on knowledge, skills, and abilities, and Veterans’ preference preserved.
- Protections against political hiring and other prohibited practices continue to apply.
The guidance also clarifies that existing reduction-in-force (RIF) rules and collective bargaining rights still apply, and Schedule Policy/Career status cannot be used to circumvent those protections.
In short, the Schedule Policy/Career rule creates a new personnel category for certain policy-influencing roles that stays within merit-based hiring but eases removal procedures for poor performance. OPM’s implementation guidance directs agencies on how to identify and manage these positions while maintaining hiring safeguards and prohibitions on political discrimination.
