What Is Schedule G?

On Thursday July 17, President Trump issued an Executive Order creating Schedule G in the excepted service for non-career positions “of a policy-making or policy-advocating character.” Let’s unpack what we know and what we don’t yet know about this hiring authority.

What is Schedule G?

According to the White House, Schedule G positions will be non-career positions who “engage in policy-making or policy-advocating work” to implement the President’s agenda. Similar to political appointees (such as Schedule C), these appointees will “generally be expected to leave when the President who appointed them leaves office.”  Schedule G will not apply to career positions or career employees.

A Fact Sheet released by the White House specifically highlights the Department of Veterans Affairs as an agency in need of Schedule G appointees.

President Trump has tasked the Office of Personnel Management with establishing regulations to implement Schedule G.  Once the proposed regulations are released by OPM in the weeks ahead, we will have greater clarity into this new schedule.

Why is the Trump administration creating Schedule G?

The Executive Order appears to be the Trump administration’s latest effort to further politicize the federal workforce – this time by increasing the number of political appointees and further diminishing the role of non-partisan, merit-based civil servants.

For decades, there have been roughly 4,000 political appointees in the federal government.  With Schedule G, the Trump administration is apparently trying to increase the number of political appointees in senior roles without requiring Senate confirmation and further decrease the influence of career officials within the agency.

How is this different from Schedule Policy / Career (the revamped Schedule F)?

The proposed Schedule Policy/Career (Schedule P/C) would strip career positions of their statutory due process protections by moving them into a new schedule that consists of positions of “a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.” Democracy Forward contends that this action is illegal, because this is a term of art that Congress intended to apply only to political appointees, not career civil servants.

How is this different from Schedule C?

Schedule C, which is the hiring authority currently used for most political appointees, authorizes appointments to noncareer positions of “a confidential or policy-determining character.”

The Trump administration claims that existing types of employment categories, including Schedule C and Schedule P/C, “do not provide for non-career appointments to policy-making or policy-advocating roles, leaving a gap in Federal hiring categories.”

This argument is nonsensical. Schedule C hiring authority is routinely used for political appointees tasked with a variety of duties, including those that could be characterized as policy-making and policy-advocating roles.  But another potential motivator for creating Schedule G is to circumvent regulations which govern the creation and tracking of Schedule C positions, which impose procedural checks. These regulations also specify that Schedule C positions are revoked when vacated and that Schedule C positions cannot be created for the purpose of detailing to the White House. Schedule G does not include any of these constraints. It is simply another mechanism to increase the number of Trump loyalists throughout our government, and could be a way to fill roles normally occupied by career employees.

How will this impact me as a civil servant?

Schedule G will not apply to career positions or career employees. But it is another indication of the Trump administration’s increasing politicization of the federal government.

As always, we will continue to provide updates on our website civilservicestrong.org as we know more.