The Trump administration said Thursday that it has finalized a rule that creates a new government schedule that will make it easier for administrations to fire federal employees it views as hindering its agenda.

The rule, dubbed Schedule Policy/Career, converts a wide range of federal policy-related employees into a status similar to that of political appointees who can be fired at will.

The change is expected to impact up to 50,000 federal workers. Unions have opposed the change, arguing it politicizes the federal workforce, which previously was intended to be neutral and expertise-oriented, according to The Hill.

“This is not about people’s views or ideas," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor said. "This is about whether they are refusing to actually affect their duties on behalf of the American people consistent with the objectives of this administration.

“The only impact Policy/Career has is if their disagreement leads them to then try to actively thwart or undermine the execution of those priorities, then that [is] behavior that we want to declare to people is not acceptable," he added.

The new rule also changes how federal employees under the new designation can report waste, fraud, or abuse, by barring them from going to the Office of Special Counsel and forcing them to make their complaint of wrongdoing to their own agency.

The rule will not go into effect until March 7.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.