White House moves to reclassify federal workers and curb civil-service protections

The Office of Personnel Management finalized Schedule Policy/Career to reclassify about 50,000 career federal employees, stripping civil-service protections and the ability to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board; implementation won’t start for at least 30 days as agencies submit lists for White House review, where final decisions will rest. Critics warn it politicizes the federal workforce and may invite lawsuits, with unions and Democratic lawmakers pledging to push back while whistleblower investigations shift to individual agencies.