New Trump 'sabotage' rule will make it 'much easier' to fire workers for political beliefs

The Trump administration is clearing the way to discipline or fire senior career officials across government, according to a new report.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management plans to issue a rule Thursday that creates a new category for high-ranking career employees tasked with executing administration policies, which the Wall Street Journal reported would remove their ability to appeal firings or disciplinary action to prevent them from standing in the way of President Donald Trump's policies.

“People can’t be conscientious objectors in the workforce in a way where it interferes with their ability to carry out their mission,” OPM Director Scott Kupor told the newspaper. “When conscientious objection becomes sabotage or trying to find ways to thwart the objectives of the administration — that is not allowed.”

OPM said the new rule was aimed at disciplining federal workers deemed insufficiently supportive of the Trump agenda and is part of the administration's broad effort to reduce the government workforce, but federal worker unions fear that the president's advisers could use the new rule as a pretext to remove employees over their political views.

The rule change would affect about 50,000 employees, according to OPM officials, but union leaders believe the administration could attempt to significantly expand that new category to include many more and reverse civil service protections in place since the 19th century to insulate the professional workforce from partisan influence.

OPM officials will complete the full list within 30 days or positions eligible for the new category and Trump is then expected to issue an executive order recategorizing specific positions, and the final rule makes clear that employees could be disciplined for leaks to the media and other actions seen as impediments to the president's agenda.

“If you’ve announced to all of your co-workers that you hate the administration," Kupor said, "and then you perform badly at your job and you don’t do anything, the fact that you said you’re going to resist to all of your co-workers is something that could be taken into account.”

The Government Accountability Project and National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, which has sued the administration over an executive order that led to the new rule, said the new category would violate a 1978 law that establishes job protections to career federal employees.

“It will be much easier for the administration to squelch dissent or to thwart the work of civil servants who are trying to ensure that they are performing due diligence when it comes to policy development,” said Love Rutledge, a coach for federal employees.