Excepted service is the category of federal civil‑service positions that are specifically outside the competitive service; excepted positions are filled under separate authorities and hiring rules (e.g., Schedule A, B, C and now Schedule Policy/Career). Competitive‑service jobs generally require open competitive examining, produce competitive (career) status, and are governed by the traditional competitive hiring rules. In short: competitive service = open, rule‑based hiring and statutory appeal/protections; excepted service = agency‑ or OPM‑authorized excepted authorities with different appointment and procedural rules.
Executive Order 14171 (Jan. 20, 2025) directed OPM to reinstate the prior Schedule F approach (renamed Policy/Career), to identify and manage policy‑influencing positions, and to recommend to the President which positions should be placed in Schedule Policy/Career; it was the legal directive OPM used to issue the final rule implementing that schedule.
OPM and agencies will use the regulatory criteria and implementation guidance the agency published: the final rule (5 CFR amendments) specifies Schedule Policy/Career covers positions that are confidential, policy‑determining, policy‑making, or policy‑advocating; OPM also issued agency implementation guidance and model policies (including templates and factors) for agencies to apply when identifying covered positions.
Under Schedule Policy/Career, employees placed in that excepted schedule are not covered by the statutory adverse‑action procedures in chapter 75 (the usual removal/suspension appeal protections); instead the rule relies on authority in the Civil Service Reform Act and substitutes agency‑level removal procedures (so the Chapter 75/Merit Systems Protection Board adverse‑action framework will not apply to those positions).
Key employee protections remain: these are career (merit) appointments filled under merit hiring rules (veterans’ preference applies), and statutory protections against whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, and other prohibited personnel practices are retained. OPM emphasized the rule also prohibits political patronage, loyalty tests, and political discrimination.
The final rule shifts enforcement of prohibited personnel practices (including whistleblower retaliation and discrimination) from the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to the employing agencies: OPM said those prohibitions are preserved but that agencies, not OSC, will carry out enforcement under the new schedule. (Affected employees retain legal remedies under applicable statutes.)
Specific positions are placed into Schedule Policy/Career by presidential action: EO 14171 directs the OPM Director to recommend to the President which positions should be placed in the schedule, and the President may designate positions by executive order. The OPM final rule and EO state the Director will issue guidance and promptly recommend positions to the President for designation.
OPM said it will review agencies’ implementation and will publish implementation guidance and model policies; employees alleging prohibited personnel practices retain remedies under the applicable laws (for example, whistleblower and discrimination statutes) and agencies are responsible for enforcing prohibitions. Because statutory adverse‑action appeal rights are removed for Schedule Policy/Career positions, appeals that formerly went to MSPB will in many cases be handled through agency channels and other statutory remedies (OSC, EEO, courts) as applicable.