AFGE Sues Trump Over Schedule F

Another lawsuit has been filed challenging the Trump administration over Schedule F.

Another lawsuit has been filed over the reemergence of Schedule F under the Trump administration.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is one of two unions to file a lawsuit against President Trump over his recent executive order that reinstates Schedule F. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was the other union on the lawsuit.

NTEU filed a lawsuit over the executive order last week.

AFGE asserts that Trump exceeded his authority by not complying with the final rule issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last April under the Biden administration that was designed to make it harder to reinstate Schedule F.

OPM issued guidance for agencies this week on how to reinstate Schedule F, which has a new name under the president’s executive order, and which federal employees would be impacted.

The guidance said that the president used his authority under the Constitution and 5 U.S.C. §§ 3301 and 3302 to directly nullify the regulations issued under the Biden administration that imposed procedural obstacles to moving career positions into policy-influencing and excepted service schedules. OPM states in its guidance that “This presidential directive immediately superseded OPM regulations issued using delegated presidential authority.”

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement:

AFGE is filing suit with our partner union today to protect the integrity of the American people’s government. Together, we can stop the efforts to fire hundreds of thousands of experienced, hard-working Americans who have dedicated their careers to serving their country and prevent these career civil servants from being replaced with unqualified political flunkies loyal to the president, but not the law or Constitution.

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Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.