IFPTE Applauds the Biden Administration’s Final Regulation Against Schedule F
IFPTE calls the rule, “a very strong protection for federal workers”
WASHINGTON, DC - The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued its final rule this week to protect the due process and civil service worker protections of federal workers from attacks similar to the Schedule F attacks promulgated by the Trump Administration.
The final rule, which was proposed in draft form last September, provides strong guardrails against any future administration from politicizing the federal civilian workforce by arbitrarily reclassifying large swaths of positions from merit-based protections.
IFPTE’s executive officers applauded the Biden Administration’s final rule. Matt Biggs, IFPTE President, called the rule, “a very strong protection for federal workers from any future draconian attack similar to what the Trump Administration attempted to do with Schedule F,” while Secretary-Treasurer, Gay Henson said that the rule, “provides for an extensive process that any administration would have to adhere to that essentially protects federal workers from being used as political pawns.”
The final regulation does the following:
Protects federal workers from randomly being reclassified into ‘at-will’ positions by simply classifying jobs as “confidential” or “policymaking” positions.
Prevents politicizing these jobs by ensuring that federal workers maintain their Title V civil service protections unless they voluntarily waive them.
Puts in place a procedure to move positions from competitive to excepted service that protects against any partisan efforts to politicize these jobs.
See the OPM statement and link to the final rule here.
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