Federal employees’ union files suit against Trump administration
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has filed a lawsuit against the new Trump presidential administration and its “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” executive order.
Signed by Trump on Jan. 20, the order essentially reinstates the Schedule F directive Trump had in place during his first presidential term. Now renamed as Schedule Policy/Career, the directive calls for agencies to send the White House lists of all their “policy-related” positions by Apr. 20.
The Trump administration is requiring supervisors to reclassify federal worker positions that are not normally subject to change with each new presidential administration. Under the reclassification, the jobs could be subject to easier termination.
“Accountability is essential for all federal employees, but it is especially important for those who are in policy-influencing positions,” the Trump order states. “These personnel are entrusted to shape and implement actions that have a significant impact on all Americans. Any power they have is delegated by the president, and they must be accountable to the president, who is the only member of the executive branch, other than the vice president, elected and directly accountable to the American people.
“In recent years, however, there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership. Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating character.”
The NTEU, which represents more than 150,000 federal employees, filed a lawsuit against the new order late on Monday, Jan. 27, which it calls an attempt to strip civil service employees of their due process protections.
“The American people deserve to have day-to-day government services in the hands of qualified professionals who are committed to public service and stay on the job regardless of which political party holds the White House,” NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement. “[The Jan. 20] Executive Order is a dangerous step backward to a political spoils system that Congress expressly rejected 142 years ago, which is why we are suing to have the order declared unlawful.”
The NTEU’s lawsuit notes that today’s merit-based, competitive civil service jobs are the result of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which was established as federal law to counter a system that had allowed each administration to hand out political jobs to friends and family.
According to Scott Michelman, legal director of D.C.’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “The federal workforce executive order is a power-grab by Trump, expanding his authority to fire employees he perceives as insufficiently loyal. During Trump’s last administration, he bumped up against federal workers who were following the law, rather than indiscriminately following his orders. Federal workers should not be fired because they are more loyal to the U.S. Constitution than they are to the president. That is a threat to both our constitutional values and the rule of law.”
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