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WASHINGTON – The administration’s proposal to strip due process protections from federal employees violates their constitutional rights and opens the door to politicizing the nonpartisan federal workforce, according to comments NTEU submitted to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

“The American public, and the employees who serve the public, are entitled to a federal civil service based on merit system principles. OPM’s proposal threatens those principles,” wrote NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald.

OPM, part of the executive branch, is attempting to reclassify tens of thousands of frontline agency staff into a new category, Schedule Policy/Career, exposing them to being fired without cause.

“Under OPM’s proposal, agencies would thus be able to engage in prohibited personnel practices against more employees without any repercussions. Whistleblowers would have diminished protection and therefore would be less willing to disclose waste, fraud or abuse,” NTEU’s comments state. “Employees would be subject to political coercion without any effective remedy. And agencies would be able to hire employees based on nepotism instead of merit.”

Although the administration estimates the reclassification would immediately apply to 50,000 federal employees, the proposed rule significantly expands the narrower definition under the current rule and could reach nearly anyone by declaring their jobs as “influencing” policy, not just “determining” policy.

NTEU cites examples of federal jobs that could be swept up by the proposal, harming hundreds of thousands of career civil servants who were hired based on their qualifications by suddenly subjecting them to political loyalty tests because they allegedly “influence” policy.

“The National Park Service employee who staffs the visitors’ center arguably has some effect on what our national parks should look like and how welcoming they should be to visitors. But no reasonable person would say that … a Park Service staffer ‘determines’ or ‘makes’ policy,” according to NTEU’s comments.

Like a similar plan President Trump attempted in his first term, known then as Schedule F, the administration’s goal is to recreate the patronage system that Congress expressly abolished 132 years ago.

“OPM’s own words make clear that it is not interested in weeding out poor performers but instead getting rid of employees who are deemed insufficiently loyal to the President’s agenda,” Greenwald wrote. 

OPM last year agreed with NTEU’s petition and reinforced the rules to protect employees’ rights if they are involuntarily reclassified. This new proposal completely reverses that policy, runs afoul of the Civil Service Reform Act and attempts to eliminate employees’ constitutionally provided right to notice and appeal of any removal.

Frontline federal employees serve the American people no matter which political party is in the White House and are prohibited from allowing politics to influence their work. Yet President Trump and members of his administration have falsely claimed that these employees are his political enemy. With this rule, the administration would replace the nonpartisan workforce of experts with one where government services are delivered by party loyalists.

In addition to these comments, NTEU has filed a lawsuit to stop Schedule Policy/Career.

NTEU represents employees in 37 federal agencies and offices.