Trump signs order easing dismissal of 8,000 senior federal workers

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday making it easier to dismiss about 8,000 senior federal workers who are deemed to influence government policy, according to the White House and the Office of Personnel Management.

The order removes job protections from a group of federal employees earning up to nearly $200,000 a year as part of the administration’s wider effort to reshape the federal workforce.

Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, said in a call before the order was issued that the administration needed employees willing to implement its policy priorities and lawful directives.

The move shows Trump is continuing efforts to discipline or remove career federal employees he views as obstructing his agenda.

Trump has said his policy agenda during his first term was slowed by career federal workers who opposed his priorities.

The number of workers covered by the order is below an earlier ceiling estimate of up to 50,000 employees who could have been brought under the new rules.

Senior administration officials said Trump could expand the group later, but there were no immediate plans to do so.

The order comes a year after billionaire Elon Musk left his role overseeing an effort to cut government spending and federal payrolls.

Federal worker unions and their allies sued in January to block the policy before it was finalised.

Federal judges paused the litigation while the Trump administration completed the changes.