Attorneys for Federal Employees — Nationwide

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Today at a Glance

• Schedule Policy/Career Is Now Live: President Trump signed an executive order on June 3 moving about 8,000 senior career positions into a new excepted-service category, removing their civil-service protections and their right to appeal a firing to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Agencies have seven days to update the affected employees' records.

• Forest Service Early-Outs and Buyouts: Ahead of a headquarters move to Salt Lake City and the closure of all nine regional offices, the Forest Service is offering early retirement (VERA) and buyouts (VSIP) to employees who face relocation. The $25,000 buyout cap and short decision windows make the math worth running now.

• Paper Checks Are Ending: Social Security says it will finish moving every beneficiary to electronic payments this year, completing the governmentwide shift ordered by Executive Order 14247. Federal retirees and employees still receiving paper checks should switch to direct deposit or request a Treasury hardship waiver.

Top Stories:

1. Schedule Policy/Career Becomes Reality — About 8,000 Senior Career Employees Lose Their MSPB Appeal Rights

Source: Federal News Network, June 3, 2026

TL;DR: President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, titled "Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service," formally creating the employment category long known as Schedule F. The order moves about 8,000 career positions out of the competitive service and into the excepted service — far fewer than the roughly 50,000 the Office of Personnel Management once estimated. OPM says about 97% of the affected positions are at the GS-15 level or are senior-level (SL) employees, with a smaller number of GS-13 and GS-14 positions, mostly at the Office of Management and Budget. Covered jobs include division and office heads, chief information officers, senior human-resources officials, senior regulation writers, high-level agency attorneys, and senior policy, budget, and grant-making officials; the White House published an appendix listing the converted positions. Employees in the new schedule can be disciplined or removed more easily and cannot appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, and OPM's guidance states they cannot challenge the reclassification itself. OPM Director Scott Kupor said there are "zero loyalty tests" and described the change as an accountability tool for employees who let their views interfere with carrying out lawful directives; unions and good-government groups, which filed more than 40,000 comments (about 94% opposed) on the 2025 proposal, say it threatens the nonpartisan civil service and are challenging it in court. Agencies have seven days from the order to make conforming changes to affected personnel records.

For federal employees, this means:

• If your position is on the White House appendix, confirm your status in writing with your servicing HR office and keep a dated copy; once converted, OPM's guidance says you generally cannot appeal the reclassification.

• Reclassified employees lose the Chapter 75 adverse-action protections and MSPB appeal rights they held in the competitive service, and in most cases also lose student-loan repayment and recruitment, retention, and relocation incentives; Government Executive reports that their whistleblower complaints would be investigated by their own agency rather than the Office of Special Counsel.

• If you are at the GS-13 through GS-15 or SL level in a policy, legal, HR, budget, or grant-making role, assume a later tranche could reach you and preserve your performance records and position description now.

Legal Insight:
Adverse-action protections — 30 days' advance written notice, the right to reply, and the right to appeal a removal or major suspension to the MSPB — flow from 5 U.S.C. § 7513. Those protections turn on qualifying as an "employee" under 5 U.S.C. § 7511, which excludes positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character that the President or OPM has excepted from the competitive service — the precise mechanism Schedule Policy/Career uses. OPM's final rule took effect in March, and the order's legality is being litigated on due-process, statutory, and separation-of-powers grounds, but it is in effect now; an employee who receives a reclassification notice or a proposed removal should consult a federal employment attorney before any response window closes.

2. Forest Service Offers Early Retirement and Buyouts as Headquarters Moves to Salt Lake City

Source: Federal News Network, June 2, 2026

TL;DR: The Forest Service has told employees it will offer Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA — early-out retirement) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP — a lump-sum buyout) to workers affected by a sweeping reorganization. The Agriculture Department announced in March that the agency will move its headquarters to Salt Lake City, close all nine regional offices, and keep only 20 of its 77 research facilities. Chief Tom Schultz told staff there is "a position for each of you in the new structure," but acknowledged that many jobs will change or move, and told the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on June 2 that the agency's decision-making "has gravitated away from local forests." About 500 employees would have to relocate under the headquarters plan, including roughly 260 of the 350 employees in the Washington, D.C., area. The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) estimates about 6,500 employees are affected by the headquarters relocation and 2,700 by research-center closures, and the agency's FY 2027 budget request would eliminate about 800 of its 1,110 research-scientist positions. The buyout is capped at $25,000 — far less than the roughly eight months of pay offered under the 2025 "Fork in the Road" deferred-resignation program.

For federal employees, this means:

• A directed reassignment to a new duty station is generally a condition of employment; an employee who declines a valid geographic reassignment can be removed, which is why VERA and VSIP are being offered as voluntary off-ramps.

• VERA lets eligible employees retire early — age 50 with 20 years of service, or any age with 25 years — during a major reorganization; VSIP pays a lump sum capped at $25,000, and the two can be combined.

• Run the numbers before deciding: a buyout, an early retirement, a relocation, and a possible later reduction in force (RIF) have very different effects on your annuity, severance eligibility, and ability to return to federal service, and the election windows are short.

Legal Insight:
VSIP authority comes from 5 U.S.C. §§ 3521–3525, which cap the incentive at the lesser of the employee's severance entitlement under 5 U.S.C. § 5595(c) or $25,000; VERA early-out eligibility is set by 5 U.S.C. § 8336(d)(2) for employees under the Civil Service Retirement System and 5 U.S.C. § 8414(b)(1) for those under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Because declining a directed reassignment can lead to a removal an employee may be able to challenge, and because accepting an incentive generally waives that right and can trigger a repayment obligation if the employee returns to federal service within five years, anyone weighing these offers should consult a federal employment attorney before signing. A bill the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced in February would raise the VSIP cap to six months' pay, but it is not yet law.

3. Social Security Will End Paper Checks This Year, Completing the Governmentwide Shift to Electronic Payments

Source: Social Security Administration, June 2, 2026

TL;DR: The Social Security Administration announced on June 2, 2026, that it will complete the move to electronic payments for all beneficiaries this year. The change carries out Executive Order 14247, which directs the Treasury Department to stop issuing paper checks for federal payments; federal law has required electronic payment of federal benefits since September 30, 2025. SSA says fewer than 1% of beneficiaries — about 280,000 people — still receive paper checks. Beneficiaries can switch by adding direct-deposit information to a my Social Security account, and those without a bank account can enroll in the Treasury's Direct Express prepaid debit-card program. Treasury reports that printing a check now costs about $3.07 — roughly 20 times the cost of an electronic payment — and that paper checks are 16 times more likely to be lost, stolen, altered, or returned. Beneficiaries who cannot reasonably switch, such as those in remote areas without banking access or with certain impairments, can request a hardship waiver from Treasury.

For federal employees, this means:

• The mandate reaches well beyond Social Security: federal salaries, travel reimbursements, and CSRS and FERS annuities are all federal payments that must be made electronically, so retirees and near-retirees still receiving paper should set up direct deposit now.

• To switch, add or update your bank information in your my Social Security or retirement account, or enroll in Direct Express (GoDirect.gov; 1-800-967-6857) if you do not have a bank account; do it before your next payment cycle to avoid a gap.

• If electronic payment is a genuine hardship, you can ask Treasury for a waiver — and Treasury has a proposed rule open for public comment, with comments due June 15, 2026, on how those limited exceptions will work.

Legal Insight:
Electronic payment of most federal disbursements is required by 31 U.S.C. § 3332 and Executive Order 14247, with waivers governed by Treasury's regulations at 31 C.F.R. Part 208. The statute already requires electronic funds transfer for federal wage, salary, and retirement payments unless a waiver applies, so for most current employees this confirms existing practice rather than changing it; the practical step is to keep your direct-deposit information current and, if you need an exception, to request a Treasury hardship waiver before your paper payments stop.

Mindful Moment of the Day

The Cubicle Boundary 

Cubicles can make it hard to feel like you have any space of your own. You may hear side conversations, frustration about policy changes, office gossip, or someone venting about management while you are trying to focus. When the noise starts to get under your skin, pause and notice three neutral things in your own workspace: the edge of your monitor, your pen, and the feel of your chair. Then return to one task in front of you. You are not being rude by protecting your attention. You are allowed to create a small pocket of steadiness, even when the office energy is loud.

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