Exclusive-Trump administration moves to more easily fire some agency employees

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By Leah Douglas and Timothy Gardner

(Reuters) – The Trump administration has begun the process of reclassifying workers at some agencies to a new job category with fewer protections, according to two sources familiar with the situation and an email seen by Reuters.

The moves, which the sources said are taking place at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Energy, are the first evidence the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is following through on a plan announced in his first day in office to recategorize tens of thousands of government workers to facilitate layoffs and remove career civil servants that may oppose its policies.

It was not immediately clear if reclassifications were under way at other agencies or how many employees at NOAA and DOE would be reclassified. 

Employees at NOAA’s fisheries branch were told on Tuesday afternoon that the agency would soon alert those on a preliminary list for reclassification submitted to the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, according to a copy of the email sent to staff and seen by Reuters. 

The email from acting assistant administrator Emily Menashes said that the list was subject to change and others could be added, and added there was no further information on the timeline for reclassifying the workers. 

“I understand that there is a lot of concern and uncertainty about Schedule Policy/Career and want to provide the best information currently available,” she wrote in the email, referring to the job reclassifications.

Some staff at the DOE have also been notified that they will be reclassified, according to another source familiar with the situation. 

A NOAA spokesperson said the agency does not discuss personnel matters, while the DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Most of the 2.2 million employees of the federal government are hired to career positions that are not tied to specific administrations, and can only be fired for cause. 

Trump on January 20 signed an executive order creating the new “schedule policy/career” category of federal employees, who could be fired at will. The executive order pointed out that career federal employees had resisted and undermined the policies of the White House in the past. 

Two unions representing federal workers sued the administration in January hoping to slow down the effort to reclassify as many as 50,000 employees, arguing it was an attempt to politicize the federal workforce. 

In their new category, NOAA employees would remain career staff, not political appointees, but would be expected to support the administration’s agenda, the email to fisheries staff said. 

The NOAA staff who received notification that they are on the preliminary list are supervisory researchers at offices including the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; National Ocean Service; and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Trump attempted to reclassify thousands of federal workers at the end of his first term, an effort supported by Russell Vought, his then and current director of the Office of Management and Budget.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Chizu Nomiyama)