8 000 scientifiques fédéraux reclassifiés comme employés à volonté pendant la nuit

Around 8,000 federal workers lost civil service protections on Wednesday when the White House signed an executive order reclassifying epidemiologists, health scientists, and toxicologists as at-will employees. These people can now be fired without cause, no questions asked.

Schedule F Returns Under a New Name

The order revives the old Schedule F concept — now branded "Schedule Policy/Career" — that President Trump has pushed for years to sideline civil servants he calls the "deep state." The administration's logic, per the order: firing these workers for "misconduct or poor performance" is "essential to protecting democratic self-government by an elected President."

Scott Kupor, a U.S. Office of Personnel Management official, told Government Executive the directive won't create a political "litmus test" for hires. But the administration already introduced a political loyalty questionnaire for new federal employees in 2025.

Who's Affected — and Who Isn't

The affected job titles include obvious targets: epidemiologist, health scientist, toxicologist. But the order casts a wider net, snagging roles like "human resources officer," "customer experience specialist," and "data management specialist." These are not policy-influencing positions by any standard.

Mark Histed, a National Institutes of Health neuroscientist critical of the administration, noted that officials overseeing peer review of scientific grant proposals could also be ensnared. That's the kind of role where political pressure on hiring and firing directly corrupts the integrity of science funding.

Three Lawsuits and Counting

Legal challenges from federal employees are already in motion — at least three separate suits. Lawyers will likely argue the order violates statutory protections for career civil servants, particularly for positions that have nothing to do with policy.

Legal writer Chris Geidner summed up the mood on BlueSky: "Just what I wanted for health scientists at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, fewer employment protections!"

The next move is up to the courts. If this order stands, any federal scientist whose work touches agency decision-making — that's most of them — works at the pleasure of the White House, not the public.

Source: White House reclassifies federal epidemiologists and other scientists from civil servants to "at-will" hires
Domain: scientificamerican.com