Here’s a simplified summary of the memorandum and the amended Executive Order 13957, titled “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce.”
Purpose:
The Executive Order and accompanying guidance establish a new Schedule Policy/Career category within the federal workforce for career employees in policy-influencing positions. These positions involve confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating duties. The goal is to provide more flexibility in hiring and managing employees in these roles while maintaining accountability and safeguarding against political patronage.
Key Provisions:
- Schedule Policy/Career Creation:
- This new category applies to career positions that involve significant influence over policy but are not typically replaced during a presidential transition. Examples include policy advisors, attorneys supervising others, and officials managing federal grants or advocating for agency policies.
- Position Reviews:
- Agencies must review all roles that could qualify as policy-influencing and submit recommendations to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for inclusion in Schedule Policy/Career.
- Agencies have 90 days for preliminary reviews and 210 days for full reviews, with rolling submissions encouraged.
- Exemption from Civil Service Protections:
- Positions in this schedule are exempt from some civil service protections under Chapter 75 of Title 5, allowing agencies to expedite the removal of underperforming employees in policy roles.
- Safeguards Against Patronage:
- Appointments must follow merit-based hiring principles. Political affiliation cannot influence hiring decisions. Employees are required to faithfully execute administration policies but are not required to personally support the president or administration.
- Reversing Biden-Era Restrictions:
- The order nullifies 2024 regulations that limited the scope of Schedule Policy/Career roles. Agencies must disregard certain procedural restrictions when evaluating positions for this schedule.
- Procedures for Appeals and Dismissals:
- While employees retain some protections against prohibited personnel practices (e.g., discrimination or political coercion), they may be removed more quickly than under the general competitive service rules.
- Implementation Timeline:
- Agencies must designate a contact person for this process by January 29, 2025, and submit preliminary position reviews to OPM by April 20, 2025.
Goals:
- Streamline policy-making positions: Ensure high-performing individuals occupy critical roles.
- Improve flexibility: Allow agencies to better align personnel with executive branch priorities.
- Protect merit principles: Maintain hiring based on skills and abilities, free of political bias.
This initiative aims to ensure accountability in critical roles while providing agencies with greater oversight over their policy-influencing workforce.
For full details, view the document here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/latest-memos/guidance-on-implementing-president-trump-s-executive-order-titled-restoring-accountability-to-policy-influencing-positions-within-the-federal-workforce.pdf
Disclaimer: Some parts of this article were generated using a specialized AI to summarize and simplify the bill in order to make it readily accessible. The goal is to make it easy to read and understand without bias, opinion or analysis