Schedule Policy/Career Rule Now Active, Grant Staff at Risk
March 20, 2026 · 2 min read
Claire Cummings
The Office of Personnel Management's Schedule Policy/Career rule took effect March 9, creating a new federal employment classification that strips civil service protections from employees in "policy-influencing" positions — a category that research advocates warn could encompass grant reviewers, program officers, and agency leadership at NIH, NSF, and other science funding agencies.
What Federal Grant Staff Stand to Lose
Employees reclassified under Schedule Policy/Career become essentially at-will workers. They lose due process protections against firing, appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board, and access to the Office of Special Counsel's whistleblower process. They also forfeit eligibility for recruitment and retention incentives, student loan repayment programs, and Presidential Rank Awards.
OPM estimates roughly 50,000 federal positions could be moved into this category, though critics argue the actual number could be four times higher. The rule contains no limiting principle on which positions agencies may reclassify, and agencies have declined to specify which roles they plan to target.
"People are free to disagree with priorities, but behavior actively thwarting execution of lawful orders is unacceptable," said OPM Director Scott Kupor. Opponents counter that the rule undermines the merit-based system that has insulated scientific grant-making from political pressure for decades. Ninety-four percent of the more than 40,500 public comments OPM received opposed the plan.
Why Grant Seekers Should Pay Attention
The implications extend beyond federal HR policy. If program officers at NIH or NSF face political pressure, the grant review process itself could shift — favoring proposals aligned with administration priorities rather than scientific merit. Unions and advocacy groups have filed lawsuits challenging the rule's constitutionality, but legal resolution could take years.
Grant-dependent researchers and institutions should monitor which agencies begin reclassifying positions and how those changes affect review panels and funding decisions. Tracking tools and analysis are available at grantedai.com. In-depth coverage of Schedule Policy/Career's impact on the research funding ecosystem is available on the Granted blog.