The US government announced on Thursday it is relaxing labour laws governing some 50,000 federal employees, making it easier to dismiss them, after a year of US President Donald Trump dismantling substantial parts of the federal apparatus.

The Office of Personnel Management (OMP) said it was set to publish the new regulations on Friday in an official gazette, a move that will transform the status of nearly two percent of all federal employees and bring it closer to that of civil servants appointed by the president.

Until now, only presidentially-appointed civil servants could be dismissed, with no recourse, at the discretion of the White House occupant.

In its 255-page document, the OPM states the new rules are intended to "strengthen employee accountability and the democratic responsiveness of American Government, while addressing long-standing performance management challenges in the Federal workforce."

The office assures that these positions will "remain career jobs filled on a non-partisan basis."

The regulations also stipulate that the whistleblower process will now be managed within agencies, rather than by an independent body.

The main federal employees union, AFGE, slammed the announcement as a "direct assault" on the merit-based civil service system.

"When people see turmoil and controversy in Washington, they don't ask for more politics in government, they ask for competence and professionalism. OPM is doing the opposite," said AFGE president Everett Kelley.

Career public servants, he warned, are being replaced with "political flunkies."

The White House, however, applauded the OPM for updating its workforce rules.

"I think if people aren't doing their jobs, if they aren't showing up for work, if they're not working hard on behalf of this president, they're not welcome to work for him at all," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump promised to reduce public spending and slash bureaucracy.

After his inauguration, he entrusted his mega-wealthy ally Elon Musk with the task, appointing him to head a new commission on government efficiency called Doge.

The White House and Doge stepped up layoffs and incentives for civil servants to leave, gutted public agencies, and drastically cut international aid.

According to OPM, some 317,000 civil servants left the federal government in 2025. Of these, more than 150,000 did so through the incentive programme. (AFP)