The Office of Management and Budget has reclassified 88% of its employees as eligible for Schedule F. This has employees at other agencies worried they might go on the Schedule F list at their agencies.
Tony Reardon, President of NTEU, and Max Stier, President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, discussed the Schedule F executive order on “Government Matters.”
“I think that this is really an alarming executive order, and we at NTEU and many others across government, candidly, immediately saw it for what it is: an attempt to undermine the civil service,” said Reardon. He explained that for the positions in Schedule F, merit would be set aside in favor of political loyalty.
“It’s a terrible policy done in a terrible way,” agreed Stier. He said some employees may choose to retire, and it also opens the door for firing people without cause.
“We’re going to be asking the Biden administration to undo any damage that may be done by Schedule F and then rescind the order,” said Reardon. NTEU has filed a lawsuit asking that the court declare the order unlawful and enjoin its implementation.
“There’s definite things that can be done to unwind this, but the harm could really be real. And it’s not only Schedule F – you have to be concerned about burrowing, you have to be concerned about hiring other people into career positions that really ought not to be there … and you have to rebuild the relationship with the career workforce itself,” said Stier.
