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WASHINGTON – An executive order to convert federal nonpartisan career jobs into political favors for loyalists is unlawful and undermines the nation’s merit-based civil service, according to a lawsuit filed on Inauguration Day by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

“Reclassifying large numbers of employees … with the intent of making them at-will employees is contrary to Congress’s intent in establishing broad protections for most federal employees,” the lawsuit states.

No administration should be allowed to take away basic due process rights from career public servants who earned their jobs based on their professional qualifications and replace them with political appointees. A similar order in 2020 was never fully implemented. 

Under the order, agency leadership would be instructed to identify which jobs to place into a new category, and in the process, make them easier to be fired arbitrarily.

“The American people deserve to have day-to-day government services in the hands of qualified professionals who are committed to public service and stay on the job regardless of which political party holds the White House,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald. “Yesterday’s Executive Order is a dangerous step backward to a political spoils system that Congress expressly rejected 142 years ago, which is why we are suing to have the order declared unlawful.”

NTEU’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues the order wrongly applies employment rules for political appointees to career staff; deprives federal employees of due process rights that they were promised when they were hired; and ignores Office of Personnel Management regulations.

 “The employees we represent staff the federal agencies that secure the nation, safeguard the public health, promote economic growth and protect consumers from fraud. Their jobs require training and expertise in their chosen field so as to provide the best possible service to all Americans, not passing a political loyalty test,” Greenwald said. “Once again, NTEU is ready to defend federal employees who chose a career in public service and took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.”

NTEU petitioned the Office of Personnel Management for additional safeguards for employees in the event of an executive action like this and those regulations became final in May 2024.

NTEU represents about 150,000 employees in 37 federal agencies and departments.