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WASHINGTON – The Office of Personnel Management has violated the Freedom of Information Act by not providing the National Treasury Employees Union with lists of federal employees it may target for reclassification and removal, according to a new lawsuit the union filed Friday.

NTEU requested the employee lists months ago as part of its fight against the administration's effort to limit the appeal rights of nonpartisan career civil servants so that they can be fired without cause.

“The government cannot hide information that is critical to safeguarding workplace rights and protections for frontline federal employees in multiple agencies across the country,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald. “We expect OPM and the administration to identify as soon as possible which federal jobs are being targeted so we can do everything we can to stop the reclassifications.”

NTEU filed an initial lawsuit in January after President Trump signed an executive order creating a new Schedule Policy/Career, which would allow agencies to convert any number of employees from competitive service to excepted service, with the goal of limiting employees’ appeal rights and leading to politically motivated firings. That case, pending in federal court in Washington DC, argues the executive order wrongly applies employment rules for political appointees to career staff and attempts to deprive federal employees of guaranteed due process rights.

The FOIA case is also filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

“These two lawsuits are about making sure that the American people have their government services delivered by federal employees who were hired based on merit and skill, not partisan affiliation,” Greenwald said. “The United States expressly rejected political patronage in federal hiring 142 years ago, and NTEU will not let this administration resurrect it.”

Schedule Policy/Career is similar to Schedule F, which was initiated in President Trump’s first term but rescinded by President Biden.

NTEU represents employees in 38 federal agencies and offices.