OPM issues its final rule for Schedule F protections

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Government Executive

April 4, 2024 05:00 AM ET


The Office of Personnel Management issued the final version of its regulation meant to safeguard the civil service from the return of a Trump-era policy that sought to convert most federal employees to at-will workers. The new regulation — which will be published in the Federal Register for public inspection on Thursday — seeks to provide 2.2 million federal employees with defined protections that would make it difficult for a future administration to re-apply the Trump policy, known as Schedule F.

“We are confident that our final rule is the best reading of civil service statutes and is grounded in the civil service in the statutory language, congressional intent, legislative history and decades of applicable case law and practice,” said OPM Deputy Director Rob Shriver on a press call. “The rule is strong, it will help to ensure the rights employees earned as envisioned by Congress when it enacted the Civil Service Reform Act in 1978 and expanded and strengthened those protections through subsequent enactments.”

The regulation has its roots in an October 2020 executive order from the Trump administration that created a new job category for federal employees in policy-related positions, dubbed Schedule F, that would exempt them from civil service protections and make them easier to remove.

President Joe Biden rescinded the executive order in January 2021 before it could be fully implemented, but nine days before Biden took office, the Office of Management and Budget received OPM approval to move 68% of its workforce into Schedule F. OPM officials began working on new regulations to make it difficult to reintroduce Schedule F policies in September 2023, receiving more than 4,000 public comments.

Read more: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2024/04/opm-issues-final-rule-schedule-f-protections/395463/

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Link to Office of Personnel Management NEWS RELEASE - RELEASE: OPM Issues Final Rule to Reinforce and Clarify Protections for Nonpartisan Career Civil Service

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Good but would that really stop Trump?

[SouthernDem4ever]

2. Would have it stopped Hitler?

Same answer.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Well like what happened with DACA (which was an Executive order by former Pres. Obama)

if a GOPer got in and attempted to repeal the E.O., they might be subject to the Congressional Review Act as well as to court action if they can't justify why the E.O. & Regs were repealed.

Although DACA was mostly neutered by the courts, there are parts that are still in existence.

Biden repealed quite a bit and I think only a handful got court challenges.

[honest.abe]

4. From another article..

If Trump wins another term, his administration could direct the Office of Personnel Management to draft new rules. But the process takes months and requires detailed explanation on why new regulations would be improvements — potentially allowing for legal challenges to be brought by opponents.

Rob Shriver, deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the new rule ensures that federal employee protections "cannot be erased by a technical, HR process" which he said "Schedule F sought to do."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-federal-workforce-overhaul-new-rule/

[50 Shades Of Blue]

5. I read the whole article. My question still stands.