Rebecca Beitsch at The Hill reports President Donald Trump has formally moved to implement his plan to make it easier to fire Federal Workers in policy roles, signing an Executive Order (EO) moving them into a new class that critics say will be akin to that of political Employees. Schedule Policy/Career, or Schedule P/C, an effort pushed under the first Trump Administration as Schedule F, allows some 8,000 Federal Workers to be hired and fired like current political appointees, stripping workplace protections they would otherwise enjoy under the Civil Service Reform Act. The EO seeks to move those Workers into the new class, saying they would be “exempted from the adverse action procedures that make removals for poor performance or misconduct so difficult.”  Those positions are among the highest-ranking positions in Government, with some 97% of these “reclassified” Federal Workers in so-called GS-15 roles, the top level on the government’s pay scale. Federal Worker Unions called it a clear attack on Employees and an attempt to intimidate Federal Workers who will now risk their jobs in reporting any malfeasance. AFGE President Everett Kelly said: “This is a blatant attempt to corrupt the Federal Government by eliminating Employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons. Thousands of Employees who were hired under the non-partisan, professional civil service will be converted to a new hiring schedule where they can be fired ‘at will’ by political appointees or other overseers with essentially no procedural or appeal safeguards that have long protected the integrity of Government operations.”

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