Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, HOUSE NEWS—Rep. Lynch expresses concern regarding loyalty test for federal employees, (Jun 3, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

“Your memorandum’s guidance not only endangers the quality of our civil service by prioritizing loyalty over expertise, but also imperils the government services upon which Americans rely,” wrote Lynch.

U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) in a letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell has urged the OPM to withdraw a new memorandum establishing a test of loyalty to President Donald J. Trump for Americans applying to work for the federal government. Lynch emphasized that administering a loyalty test would politicize the federal workforce and undermine the purposefully nonpartisan nature of the civil service.

Response. Every federal worker is required to take an oath of office stating that they will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” However, that oath does not require federal workers to swear to protect and defend executive orders or policy initiatives, the letter explains. It does not require workers have loyalty to a president or to a political party. The memorandum’s guidance endangers the quality of the civil service by prioritizing loyalty over expertise and imperils the government services relied upon by Americans.

Lynch requested that Ezell provide the following information by June 16, 2025: all correspondence and communications related to the inclusion of this question in federal applications, including but not limited to those conducted via email, Slack, Signal, and any other digital communication; a full timeline of implementation for the use of this question in any application for federal employment; and any and all communications between the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and OPM regarding the evaluation of applicant responses to this question in federal job applications.

Merit Hiring Plan. Late last week, in a memorandum regarding a new “Merit Hiring Plan” was issued by Vince Haley, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, and Charles Ezell, Acting Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, to the various federal agency heads and acting heads. In it, Haley and Ezell set forth their response to Executive Order 14170, entitled “Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service.” The memo identifies the following “key elements” of that plan, one aspect of which would be for federal job vacancy announcements grade GS-05 and above to include four essay questions to be answered, including one asking “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role?” and telling the applicant to “Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired” (see Labor & Employment Law Daily, New ‘merit hiring plan’requires GS-5 and above applicants to explain how they would ‘help advance’ the President’s EOs and priorities, May 30, 2025).

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