Trump Sued by Federal Employees Union Over Schedule F Order

The National Treasury Employees Union said on Tuesday that it has sued President Trump to block an executive order that would enable him to fire career federal workers across the government.

The order signed on Monday evening, known as “Schedule F,” would empower the Trump administration to strip job protections from many career federal employees — who are supposed to be hired based on merit and cannot be arbitrarily fired.

Mr. Trump issued a similar order in 2020 that aimed to strip federal workers of job protections but it was revoked by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Trump has now brought it back as part of his plan to eradicate what he has derisively labeled “the Deep State.”

The labor union represents about 50,000 federal workers across 37 agencies.

The lawsuit argues that Mr. Trump’s order would “radically reshape the civil service” by drastically increasing the number and type of employees who are at risk of dismissal. It goes on to make the case that reclassifying most federal workers as “at will” employees is contrary to the worker protections Congress has put in place.

Career civil servants include professional staff members across the government who typically retain their jobs when the presidency changes hands. Their roles include law enforcement officers and technical experts at agencies that Congress created to make rules aimed at ensuring the air and water are clean and food, drugs and consumer products are safe.

“The American people deserve to have day-to-day government services in the hands of qualified professionals who are committed to public service and stay on the job regardless of which political party holds the White House,” Doreen Greenwald, the union’s president, said in a statement.

Mr. Trump signed the order at the White House on Monday evening, hours after his inauguration ceremony.

“We’re getting rid of all the cancer,” Mr. Trump said as he signed it. “The cancer caused by the Biden administration.”