Debate Desk
Do Federal Civil Servants Need Ironclad Protection From Being Fired?
Merit protection ended the spoils system, but rules that make removal of poor performers nearly impossible leave voters unable to direct the executive branch.
The claim
Defenders say that civil service protections keep government professional and free from political pressure, that the spoils system was corrupt and that weakening job security would let every president fill the government with loyalists.
The answer in three points
- The spoils system was bad, and merit hiring was a good reform. The Pendleton Act of 1883 followed the assassination of President Garfield by a disappointed office seeker. Protecting workers from arbitrary political firing remains a worthy goal.
- Yet a system that makes it very hard to remove a poor performer has costs. It slows work, frustrates good employees and keeps the elected president from directing the executive branch, in which Article II vests the executive power in him alone. The voters elect a president to run the government.
- Reforms can keep the good. Clear standards, speedy processes for removal for misconduct or poor performance, and limited flexibility for policy-making positions allow accountability while retaining merit hiring. Schedule F, a proposal to reclassify some policy roles, is a fight over who answers to the voters.
A reform worth supporting keeps the principle that no one is fired for being a member of the wrong party and adds the principle that a federal job is not a lifetime guarantee regardless of performance. Most federal workers do their jobs well, and they are the ones who suffer most when a few cannot be removed. Clear standards, a fair hearing and a faster timeline serve them and the public.
The numbers
- The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was enacted in 1883 after President Garfield's assassination in 1881, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
- Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution vests the executive power in a President of the United States.
- The Government Accountability Office and the Merit Systems Protection Board have published reports on the time it takes to remove poor performers in federal agencies.
What they will say next
"Without protections, workers would be fired for their politics." Laws against retaliation and discrimination remain. Reform concerns performance and policy roles.
"The work needs expertise, not politics." It does, and expertise serves the elected leadership and does not replace it.
"Few federal workers are fired." Because the process is long, managers often do not try, and good employees suffer from the delays.
"Presidents of both parties hold the same view." Recent reform efforts began with both parties, and the arguments should be heard on the merits.
Government of the people means that the people's elected leaders are in charge.
"A loyal workforce will not tell a president the truth." A president who wants flattery will find it anywhere, and one who wants candor can ask for it. The record of federal whistleblower laws shows that employees can be protected from retaliation for reporting wrongdoing without being protected from every performance review. Both goals can be met.