Management

Here’s how Trump’s new vice presidential pick stacks up on federal workforce issues

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, has been at the center of GOP efforts in Congress to “dismantle” diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies, and has suggested that if Trump wins re-election, he should fire “every mid-level bureaucrat” in government.

Workforce

Donald Trump wants to reinstate a spoils system in federal government by hiring political loyalists regardless of competence

COMMENTARY | The potential reemergence of Schedule F is not the first time a president has sought to install political loyalists in the federal civil service, but its impact could prove disastrous.

Workforce

Biden trashes Trump’s civil service plans in press conference

The president described Project 2025 and Schedule F threats to the United States’ democratic system during a press conference Thursday.

Workforce

Project 2025: The worst-case scenario for veterans

COMMENTARY | "By dismantling key agencies and slashing federal jobs, Project 2025 risks undermining not only government efficiency but also the livelihoods of tens of thousands of veterans," writes one veteran.

News

Schedule F looms over trust in government summit

New survey data from the Partnership for Public Service shows there is strong bipartisan support among the public for a nonpartisan civil service.

Workforce

Bush-era national security officials warn against Schedule F

In a letter to congressional committee staff directors, a cadre of former Republican appointees urged lawmakers to pursue a “middle ground” of federal employee accountability that preserves merit systems principles.

Workforce

OPM’s new acting director defends federal telework, anti-Schedule F regulations

Rob Shriver defended the Biden administration’s workforce policies, citing new data suggesting fewer federal employees telework than their private sector counterparts.

Workforce

Governance experts launch a group to oppose Schedule F

The new organization hopes to offer a consensus way forward on civil service reform issues in addition to opposing efforts to politicize the federal workforce.

Workforce

Employee groups laud Biden’s anti-Schedule F regulations

Unions and management organizations alike applauded the Office of Personnel Management’s effort to at least slow a future Republican administration’s efforts to strip federal employees of their civil service protections.

Workforce

The positive impact of policy entrepreneurs in the public service

COMMENTARY | The rewards for entrepreneurial leadership by top government careerists are low. They shouldn't be.

Updated Workforce

OPM issues its final rule for Schedule F protections

The federal HR agency finalized its rule offering protections for career civil servants meant to safeguard against the potential reemergence of the Trump-era Schedule F policy.

Workforce

The MacGuffin of Schedule F

COMMENTARY | Plans to convert federal workers in policy-related positions into at-will employees leave the workforce dangling.

Oversight

MSPB political firing case raises new questions on Schedule F

The Housing and Urban Development Department’s 2017 firing of a probationary employee over alleged leaks was politically motivated, the agency tasked with enforcing civil service laws said last week.

Workforce

Politicians may rail against the ‘deep state,’ but research shows federal workers are effective and committed, not subversive

COMMENTARY | "Our years of research about the people who work in the federal government finds that they care deeply about their work, aiding the public and pursuing the stability and integrity of government," write two scholars.

Workforce

One agency’s Trump-era plan included stripping protections from 68% of its workforce

The Office of Management and Budget appeared to have taken a maximalist approach to the controversial job category, proposing to strip the civil service protections from IT workers, recruiters and even executive assistants.

Workforce

Trump’s civil service plans unsettle labor leaders at start of campaign season

Lawmakers and leaders of the American Federation of Government Employees warned that the former president represents a “threat to democracy” at the union’s annual legislative conference.

Management

That Time Abraham Lincoln went to a war zone to escape office-seekers

The front lines of the Civil War were a vacation compared to being literally stalked in Washington.

Pay & Benefits

Keeping an eye on Schedule F and other proposals to reform federal workforce and pay protections

COMMENTARY | Former President Trump's plan to convert large swaths of federal employees into "at-will" workers may be on ice for now, but he and other GOP contenders have proposed to revive the proposal or institute a more drastic one.

Workforce

Union coalition throws support behind OPM’s anti-Schedule F rules

A group of 14 labor organizations led by the National Treasury Employees Union urged the federal government’s HR agency to adopt its proposal to hamstring future efforts to strip feds’ job protections “promptly.”