President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration will reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers — a move that government experts say could make mass layoffs of the US government employees easier. Donald Trump declared on social media that from now on, the career government employees who work on policy matters will be classified as “schedule policy/career.”
“Following my Day One Executive Order, the Office of Personnel Management will be issuing new Civil Service Regulations for career government employees. Moving forward, career government employees, working on policy matters, will be classified as “Schedule Policy/Career,” and will be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance,” Donald Trump said.
The US president warned that if the federal government employees working in policy sector refuse to encourage the policy interests of the President, they will be fired too. He said this change will allow the US government be finally “run like a business.”
“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job. This is common sense, and will allow the federal government to finally be “run like a business.” We must root out corruption and implement accountability in our Federal Workforce!” Trump said.
Trump’s move enforces a Day One executive order that could strip job protections from much of the 2.3 million federal workforce, effectively making them at-will employees.
How Trump’s plan opens door to more federal layoffs
Speaking of the employment reclassification of tens of thousands of federal workers, a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan told Reuters that it could open door for Donald Trump to fire more employees as nearly everyone in the US government is involved in touching policy matters in one way or another.
As many as 50,000 employees of the federal government are in line to be fired.
The new order is broad enough that hundreds of thousands of people could be reclassified, the professor said, before firings begin.
Over 260,000 federal workers have already been fired, have taken buyouts, retired early or have been earmarked for termination since Trump took office.
