Schedule Policy/Career Executive Order — June 4, 2026

Subject: A note from Shaun — yesterday's executive order on civil service protections

If you know a federal employee who might be affected by yesterday's executive order, please forward this email to them. If they want to get on our daily briefing list, they can sign up at fedlegalhelp.com/newsletter.

Hey Feds,

I rarely send personal notes to this list. I am sending one today.

Yesterday — June 3, 2026 — the President signed an executive order placing approximately 8,000 federal positions into a new excepted-service category called Schedule Policy/Career. This is the renamed Schedule F. In addition to the regular daily briefing you receive from us, I wanted to take a moment to speak to you directly about what this means.

Here is the short version.

For the specific positions named in the order's appendix, the procedural protections in Chapter 75 of Title 5 — the rules that give career federal employees advance written notice of a proposed adverse action, a reply right, and the right to appeal a removal to the Merit Systems Protection Board — no longer apply. Positions covered by the order become at-will. Removal can be for any reason, or for no reason at all.

The administration says about 97 percent of the affected positions are at or above GS-15. That is true at the grade level. But I read the entire 229-page appendix last night, and I want you to know that the list of position titles is broader than the framing in most news coverage. It includes many working-level attorney advisors, HR specialists, budget analysts, grants management specialists, public affairs specialists, EEO officers, IT specialists, scientists, public health analysts, and adjudication officers across nearly every cabinet department. If you have heard about this and thought "that does not apply to me because I am not a political-adjacent senior official," I would encourage you to check the appendix against your SF-50.

Here is what the order does and does not affect, on its face. Title VII, the Rehabilitation Act, the ADEA, and USERRA continue to apply to Schedule Policy/Career employees as federal employees, and the EEOC's federal-sector process under 29 C.F.R. Part 1614 remains available. The whistleblower question is harder, and I want to be straight with you about it. The prohibited-personnel-practice protections of 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b) — including (b)(8) whistleblower retaliation, (b)(9) protected-activity retaliation, and (b)(1) political-affiliation discrimination — apply only to personnel actions taken against employees in a "covered position." Section 2302(a)(2)(B)(i) carves out from "covered position" any position "excepted from the competitive service because of its confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character" — which is exactly the ground the June 3 order recites for placing these positions into Schedule Policy/Career. Read straight, that recitation closes the gateway to the OSC complaint process and to Individual Right of Action jurisdiction at MSPB for covered employees. The administration's public statement that whistleblower protections are preserved is in tension with the plain text of the statute the courts will read. The order is being challenged in federal court by AFGE, AFSCME, the AFL-CIO, PEER, and Democracy Forward, and this structural question is at the heart of that litigation.

What you should do. If you may be on the list, the next two weeks matter. We have written a tips post that walks you through exactly what to check, what to save, what not to sign, and what your timelines look like if something happens. It is here:

fedlegalhelp.com/schedulepctips

If you are affected — or if you simply want to be ready in case a future round expands the list — please read it.

I want to close by saying what I always try to say in these moments. Your service is worth protecting. The federal-sector anti-discrimination statutes remain in force, and they are not affected by the "covered position" carve-out — Title VII, the Rehabilitation Act, the ADEA, USERRA, and the EEOC Part 1614 process are still there. The courts will weigh in on the rest. In the meantime, document everything, do not sign anything reclassifying you without representation, and engage your union or representative early.

Thank you for your service, and thank you for trusting us with your inbox each morning.

With gratitude,

Shaun 

P.S. Here are position titles potentially covered by yesterday's executive order, drawn from the appendix. This is a representative roll-up — not a complete list — and your specific position description (PD) number is what controls. To check whether your position is included, find your PD number on your SF-50 (box 22) and search for it in the appendix under your agency. Here is the appendix: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026SchedulePolicyCareer.eo_.APPENDIX.pdf

Positions potentially covered include:

• Attorney Advisor; Supervisory Attorney Advisor; General Attorney; Supervisory General Attorney; Senior Counsel; Senior Level Attorney; Patent Attorney; Senior Trademark Legal Counsel; Field Counsel; Assistant General Counsel; Deputy General Counsel
• Chief of Staff; Deputy Chief of Staff; Director of Staff; Executive Officer; Executive Secretary; Senior Advisor; Senior Policy Advisor; Special Advisor; Policy Advisor; Senior Counselor
• Program Manager; Supervisory Program Manager; Program Analyst; Supervisory Program Analyst; Program Specialist; Supervisory Program Specialist; Program Examiner
• Management Analyst; Supervisory Management Analyst; Management and Program Analyst; Supervisory Management and Program Analyst; Management and Program Analysis Officer
• Policy Analyst; Senior Policy Analyst; Supervisory Policy Analyst; Senior Policy Advisor for Appropriations
• Budget Officer; Budget Analyst; Senior Budget Analyst; Supervisory Budget Analyst; Budget Preparation Specialist
• Financial Management Specialist; Financial Management Analyst; Supervisory Financial Management Analyst; Supervisory Financial Management Specialist; Financial Analyst; Senior Financial Analyst; Supervisory Financial Specialist
• Human Resources Officer; Director of Human Resources; Human Resources Specialist; Supervisory Human Resources Specialist; Chief Human Capital Officer; Human Capital Specialist
• Public Affairs Specialist; Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist; Communications Director; Communications Manager; Supervisory Communications Specialist; Media Relations Officer
• Congressional Affairs Specialist; Supervisory Congressional Affairs Specialist; Legislative Affairs Specialist; Supervisory Legislative Affairs Specialist; Congressional Liaison Officer; Legislative Analyst
• Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist; Senior Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist
• Grants Management Specialist; Supervisory Grants Management Specialist
• Procurement Analyst; Supervisory Procurement Analyst; Contract Specialist; Supervisory Contract Specialist
• Information Technology Specialist; Information Technology Cybersecurity Specialist; Information Technology Project Manager; Supervisory IT Specialist; Chief Information Officer; Deputy Chief Information Officer; Chief Information Security Officer; Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer
• Chief Financial Officer; Deputy Chief Financial Officer; Financial Officer; Financial Manager
• Chief Equal Employment Opportunity Officer; Supervisory Equal Employment Specialist; Supervisory Equal Opportunity Investigator
• Public Health Advisor; Supervisory Public Health Advisor; Public Health Analyst; Supervisory Public Health Analyst; Senior Public Health Advisor
• Health Scientist; Supervisory Health Scientist; Research Health Scientist; Health Science Policy Officer; Health Scientist Administrator
• Epidemiologist; Supervisory Epidemiologist; Research Epidemiologist
• Physician; Supervisory Physician
• Intelligence Specialist; Supervisory Intelligence Specialist; Intelligence Operations Specialist; Supervisory Intelligence Operations Specialist; Senior Intelligence Analyst; Intelligence Research Specialist; Supervisory Intelligence Research Specialist
• Foreign Affairs Officer; Supervisory Foreign Affairs Officer; Foreign Affairs Specialist; Supervisory Foreign Affairs Specialist; International Relations Specialist; International Relations Officer; Supervisory International Relations Officer; Attaché; Health Attaché; Deputy Health Attaché
• Operations Research Analyst; Supervisory Operations Research Analyst
• Statistician; Economist; Senior Economist; International Economist; Financial Economist; Research Economist
• Logistics Management Officer; Logistics Management Specialist; Supervisory Logistics Management Specialist
• Adjudication Officer; Supervisory Adjudication Officer; Immigration Services Officer; Supervisory Immigration Officer; Supervisory Immigration Services Analyst; Refugee Officer; Supervisory Refugee Officer; Asylum Officer-equivalent supervisory titles; Appeals Officer; Supervisory Appeals Officer; Administrative Appeals Office Chief
• National Bank Examiner; Supervisory National Bank Examiner; Examiner in Charge; Senior Capital Markets Specialist
• Loan Specialist; Supervisory Loan Specialist
• Strategic Planner; Supervisory Strategic Planner; Strategic Planning Officer; Strategic Communications Director
• Director, Deputy Director, Associate Director, and Assistant Director positions across a wide range of policy, regulatory, examination, grants, and operations offices
• Executive Director; Deputy Executive Director
• Trade Specialist; International Trade Specialist; Supervisory International Trade Finance Specialist; Senior Export Policy Analyst; Supervisory Export Control Analyst
• Telecommunications Policy Analyst; Senior Spectrum Policy Advisor; Supervisory Telecommunications Policy Analyst
• Patent Examination Policy Advisor; Trademark Legal and Examination Policy Specialist
• Operations Officer; Operations Manager; Plans Officer; Plans and Operations Officer (predominantly Department of War)
• Customer Experience Strategist (OMB); Supervisory Customer Experience Strategist (OMB)
• Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications; Senior Communications Advisor

Again, the controlling identifier is your PD number — not your title. Two people with the same title can have different PD numbers, and only one may be on the list. Check the appendix carefully against your SF-50.

If you facing discipline or are disciplined and you believe it is wrongful — discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower reprisal, or another prohibited personnel practice — that is the kind of case our firm litigates. If you have one of those cases, feel free to reach out for a free consultation. The tips at fedlegalhelp.com/schedulepctips walk you through what to save and what your timelines look like so the record is built before you ever need a lawyer.

— Shaun