Trump administration moves to strip senior US health officials of job protections

The Trump administration has begun reclassifying hundreds of senior HHS employees into a new job category. The move removes key civil service protections and deepens the fight over White House control of career officials.

In Short

• Internal email said several agency teams would shift employment categories
• Reclassified officials would lose appeal rights and could be dismissed at will
• Initial phase covers hundreds of GS-15 staff across multiple HHS units

The Trump administration has begun reclassifying hundreds of senior employees at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a move that would strip them of longstanding civil service protections and make them easier to dismiss.

According to an internal email reviewed by Reuters, employees across several HHS agencies were informed on Friday that members of their teams would be shifted into a different employment category. Once reclassified, these officials could be fired at will, unlike before when they could only be removed for cause and had the right to appeal disciplinary action.

The step is part of a broader effort announced earlier this year by the Trump administration to overhaul the federal civil service system and expand presidential authority over career government employees.

Under the restructuring plan introduced in February, up to 50,000 federal workers could eventually be moved from the existing “Schedule F” category into a new “Schedule Policy/Career” classification. The administration argues that employees involved in shaping or influencing government policy should be more directly accountable to the elected leadership.

An HHS official confirmed the authenticity of the email but did not specify how many employees or agencies would ultimately be affected. The official also did not provide details about the positions involved.

The employees currently targeted belong to the GS-15 category, one of the highest levels in the federal workforce. These roles typically include senior technical experts, supervisors, managers and high-level policy staff.

The email described the initial phase as involving “a relatively modest number...on the order of hundreds not thousands” of HHS personnel. It also stated that “additional tranches” of reclassifications would follow in the coming months.

At the same time, the administration said there would be no new mass layoffs at the department beyond the cuts that had already been announced earlier.

During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to remove job protections for federal workers whom his advisers viewed as influencing policy decisions without sufficient accountability to the White House. Supporters of the move say it will help elected administrations implement policy changes more effectively.

Critics, however, warn that the overhaul could weaken the independence of the civil service and make large-scale dismissals easier. Governance experts have argued that the changes could fundamentally alter the structure of the federal workforce by increasing political control over traditionally career-based positions.

Federal employee unions have already challenged the policy in court, arguing that it undermines established civil service protections and threatens the neutrality of government institutions.

The administration has made shrinking the federal workforce and tightening White House oversight of agencies, boards and commissions a central part of its governance agenda since returning to office.

- Ends
With inputs from Reuters