{"id":793,"date":"2026-08-13T22:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2026-08-13T22:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:36:43","slug":"state-department-expands-push-to-reclassify-employees-as-at-will-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=793","title":{"rendered":"State Department expands push to reclassify employees as at-will workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The State Department is taking another look at its workforce to see if more employees should fall under a new governmentwide designation that makes them easier to fire. Agency officials are expanding their\u00a0search for employees to reclassify as at-will workers under the Trump administration\u2019s new Schedule Policy\/Career designation for the federal workforce.<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June that officially reclassified 8,000 federal employees into Schedule Policy\/Career, a rebranding of the Schedule F designation that Trump pursued in his first term, but did not implement before leaving office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Employees placed into the new schedule would no longer be able to challenge adverse personnel actions before the Merit Systems Protection Board, and whistleblower complaints filed by Schedule P\/C employees would be investigated by their own agency, rather than the Office of Special Counsel.<\/p>\n

The Office of Personnel Management previously estimated that about 50,000 federal employees would\u00a0fall under this new job category. But an OPM spokesperson said in June that the administration chose to instead focus on \u201cthe most senior-level career policy officials.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The State Department\u2019s actions suggest that its initial reclassification of employees fell short of the White House\u2019s expectations, and other agencies may take a similar approach. NOTUS first reported that the Trump administration is directing agencies to find more federal employees to convert to Schedule P\/C.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the foreign policy agency declined to comment on \u201cinternal deliberative personnel matters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One State Department employee told Government Executive <\/em>that human resources officials are using a short questionnaire to determine if GS-13 and GS-14 level employees are working in policymaking positions that should be reclassified to Schedule P\/C.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not clear how many \u2018yes\u2019 responses would trigger a new Schedule P\/C status,\u201d the employee said.<\/p>\n

The questionnaire asks if a position \u201cformulates, develops and\/or determines foreign policy, including creation of draft documents with policy recommendations,”\u00a0or “develops or reviews non-public Executive Orders, regulations, directives, policy memoranda, or deliberative materials protected by the deliberative process privilege regarding foreign policy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other screening questions ask if an employee \u201cprovides substantive advocacy of foreign policy,\u201d or represents the department before Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, foreign governments or external organizations regarding the administration\u2019s foreign policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The questionnaire asks if an employee \u201cpublicly advocates Administration foreign policy through official communications or media engagement\u201d or \u201cexercises delegated authority to commit or bind the\u202fDepartment to policy decisions.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The department is also looking for positions that conduct official bargaining or negotiations on behalf of the department, or whether an employee \u201cperforms statutory policy-making responsibilities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The supervisory foreign affairs officers and specialists, as well as other senior-level positions, to\u00a0Schedule Policy\/Career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A second State\u00a0staffer said the department is still in the early stages of its expanded search for Schedule P\/C conversions, but added that this work is \u201cmoving relatively fast.\u201d\u00a0Staff have been directed to update to their position descriptions to ensure they reflect the full scope of their responsibilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGS-13s, I don\u2019t think, are typically in a position that you\u2019re going to think of as a senior policymaking position,\u201d the employee said. \u201cI was surprised, personally, to see positions that junior given this designation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A senior administration official told reporters in June that 97% of employees that fall under Schedule Policy\/Career are at a GS-15 level or higher. The official said a \u201csmall number\u201d of GS-13 and GS-14 employees were also converted, but that most of them work at OMB.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of OMB, there are very, very few positions that are below the level of GS-15 that are being covered,\u201d the administration official said. \u201cThe bottom line is that almost all of these are very senior positions in the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration official said Schedule Policy\/Career would \u201cincrease the accountability of officials who are responsible for carrying out the elected president\u2019s policy agenda,\u201d but would have little day-to-day impact on reclassified employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as they\u2019re performing their job duties in a competent, professional manner, they have nothing to be afraid of,\u201d the official said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second State Department employee said Schedule P\/C\u2019s impact on the workforce has not yet been fully felt, but suggested that newly at-will employees may be reluctant to offer candid feedback on policy matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you convert my position to a position that can be expeditiously removed, I\u2019m going to more carefully tailor what I\u2019m saying,\u201d they said.\u00a0\u201cIts practical effect, I think it\u2019s safe to assume, is that it will reduce people\u2019s willingness to give advice or offer policy positions that are inconsistent with the direction of the administration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A third individual said the department has started reviewing GS-13 and GS-14 positions for \u201cpossible conversion to Schedule Policy\/Career.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat process has resulted in a hold on reclassifying any of the thousands of GS-13 and 14 positions, which an office or bureau might otherwise do from time to time to align position grades with updated responsibilities,\u201d the individual said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0states that many aspects of federal employment \u2013 including rules around pay, leave, benefits and reductions in force \u2013 remain unchanged for those moved to Schedule P\/C. OPM also included a\u00a0 agencies\u00a0may use when firing Schedule P\/C employees. In the template, agencies may specify \u201cunacceptable performance or misconduct\u201d as justification\u00a0for an employee’s\u00a0termination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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An expanded search for more Schedule Policy\/Career conversions is still in its early stages, but a department employee says the effort is \u201cmoving relatively fast.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-workforce"],"yoast_head":"\nState Department expands push to reclassify employees as at-will workers - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Department expands push to reclassify employees as at-will workers - 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