On April 10, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memorandum reminding agencies of the various personnel law flexibilities associated with Schedule C excepted service employees.
Schedule C is a category of excepted service employees under 5 C.F.R. §§ 213.3301 (covering regular Schedule C appointments), 213.3302 (covering an additional authority for Schedule C appointments for transition purposes in the first year of a new presidential administration). The schedule consists of “positions that are of a confidential or policy determining character.” Under the Biden Administration, OPM had implemented a more specific definition of what constitutes a position of a “confidential or policy determining character,” in 5 C.F.R. § 210.102(b)(4); the present Trump Administration in Executive Order 14,171 declared the more specific definition “inoperative and without effect,” pending OPM rulemaking proceedings to formally rescind the definition, as previously discussed in this blog, although that declaration is in litigation as of the date of this blog. Generally, though, Schedule C is often used for certain categories of senior political appointments in federal agencies, according to OPM typically at the GS-15 or Senior Level, and accordingly are listed in the “Plum Book.” Schedule C appointments are noncompetitive (although—as the memorandum emphasizes, such appointments are supposed to be coordinated with the White House and OPM), and Schedule C employees do not have MSPB appeal rights for adverse actions.
In its new memorandum, OPM specifically featured the flexibilities of Schedule C appointment authorities for agency heads to set the salaries and frequencies of raises for Schedule C appointees (up to applicable salary caps set by law). OPM suggested that agency heads should consider reviewing and possibly withdrawing any delegations of authority to their human resources offices to set policies for Schedule C hiring or pay setting within their agency, which would vest that authority in the agency head personally.
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