• Trump administration plans to reclassify federal workers as "at-will" employees.
• Changes target around 50,000 civil servants linked to policy-making roles.
• New rule aims to ease termination of employees not aligned with presidential directives.

The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to reclassify a significant number of federal workers as "at-will" employees. This initiative, categorized under "Schedule Policy/Career," aims to simplify the process for firing civil servants who do not align with the administration's policy priorities, according to President Trump. Trump stated on Truth Social that "career government employees, working on policy matters, will be classified as ‘Schedule Policy/Career’ and will be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance" according to CBS News.

The move is an extension of Trump's previous "Schedule F" proposal and is expected to affect approximately 50,000 workers, representing about 2% of the federal workforce. The White House asserts that the change will allow agencies to dismiss employees "without access to cumbersome adverse action procedures or appeals," thereby expediting removals for poor performance, misconduct, or corruption, as reported by Reuters.

This decision has drawn criticism from governance experts and labor unions. Don Moynihan, a public policy professor, warned that classifying individuals involved in policy as "at-will" significantly broadens the scope for potential terminations, impacting many within the federal government workforce. "Nearly everyone in government touches policy in one way or another," he explained, highlighting the implications of this new classification according to TRT Global.

Trump asserts that the reclassification aligns with his goal to run the federal government “like a business,” emphasizing that employees must implement the administration’s policies effectively. However, union leaders, such as Everett Kelley from the American Federation of Government Employees, have expressed strong disapproval, stating that the move threatens to undermine merit-based hiring and protections for civil servants, as noted by Anadolu Agency.