Three unions representing federal employees are suing the Trump administration for including a new essay question on thousands of federal job applications, asking candidates how they plan to advance the Trump administration’s policies.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, is led by the American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and National Association of Government Employees.

One of several essay questions, outlined under the administration’s Merit Hiring Plan, asks candidates how they would “advance the president’s executive orders and policy priorities,” and to name “one or two executive orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you,” and how they would help implement them if hired.

The unions claim the inclusion of a “loyalty question” on federal job applications runs counter to the nonpartisan nature of the civil service, because it allows the “Trump Administration to weed out those who do not voice sufficient support for President Trump and reward those who do.”

“Potential federal job applicants who want to serve the United States but do not personally support the president’s executive orders and policy initiatives — or simply prefer not to share their political beliefs and views when applying for a career federal job — will be compelled to speak in the form of a written essay praising the president’s orders and policies (in order to better their chances of employment), risk being punished for answering honestly, or be chilled from speaking at all,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit seeks to bar the Trump administration from using the “loyalty question” in federal hiring decisions or “relying on answers to the loyalty question in any manner.”

The unions claim the essay question violates the free speech rights of job candidates, because it “compels applicants to voice certain viewpoints and opinions, to self-censor, or to decline to apply for positions they are otherwise interested in.”

“That is by design. The current administration has a stated goal of removing civil servants it deems to be disloyal and replacing them with loyalists,” the complaint states. “By directing the use of the loyalty question in job applications for most career positions and instructing politically appointed agency leaders to review applicant responses, the administration appears to be trying to fill nearly every level of the civil service with political loyalists.”

The unions also claim the question violates the Privacy Act, because it “collects unnecessary and irrelevant information about the exercise of applicants’ First Amendment rights.”

The Office of Special Counsel, in its response to a complaint filed this summer, determined that the Merit Hiring Plan’s optional hiring questions did not amount to a prohibited personnel practice, and that guidance from the Office of Personnel Management ensured the questions do not constitute a loyalty test.

The lawsuit states that the Education Department has included the essay question on job applications, after shedding about half of its employees through layoffs and voluntary separation incentives this year. The Education Department is also one of several agencies that sent additional layoff notices to employees on Oct. 10.

“In other words, after firing hundreds of Department of Education employees, the agency simply re-posted the same jobs, now with the requirement to answer the loyalty question. In order to even attempt to recover their old jobs, civil servants must subject themselves to the loyalty question, regardless of their political beliefs, or remain out of work,” the complaint states.

The Trump administration released its Merit Hiring Plan in May to ensure that “only the most talented, capable and patriotic Americans are hired to the federal service.”

In follow-up guidance, however, the Office of Personnel Management downplayed the importance of the essays as just one piece of a candidate’s overall application. The HR agency said it’s optional for job candidates to answer the essays, and that candidates won’t be disqualified from consideration if they skip them.

OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement Friday that the Merit Hiring Plan “reinforces the nonpartisan character of the federal workforce,” and that “we have been very clear that hiring decisions cannot consider political or ideological beliefs.”

“The Merit Hiring Plan strengthens the career civil service by ensuring agencies evaluate applicants based on skills, experience, and commitment to public service. As part of the plan, we have recommended agencies use four optional, free-response essay questions that give candidates an opportunity to provide additional information about themselves, their background, and dedication to public service,” Kupor said.

OPM’s guidance states the essay question is non-mandatory, but “encouraged.” OPM’s guidance states that the question should not be used as a “political litmus test,” and that answers will not be scored or ranked. The unions, however, say there’s evidence that candidates’ responses will determine whether they advance to the next stage of the hiring process.

OPM’s guidance says that responses will be reviewed by hiring managers and political appointees. The lawsuit says that suggests “the answers will play some unknown and unspecified role in the hiring process.”

“Of course the loyalty question will play some role in hiring: otherwise, why include it at all?” the complaint states.

An OPM official told federal human resources officials in August that it is “mandatory” for agencies to include the essay question on job applications, but optional for candidates to answer.

The complaint states the essay question has appeared on over 5,800 federal job applications so far — and that 1,700 of those job posts have been posted since the start of the government shutdown, now the longest funding lapse in U.S. history.

The essay question appears on a wide range of job applications — from a meatcutting worker at the Defense Department, to a research biologist at the Agriculture Department, to a laundry worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The complaint states that “an applicant’s ability to perform these and other career civil service roles competently is entirely unrelated to the applicant’s personal political views.”

The post Unions sue Trump administration over ‘loyalty question’ added to federal job applications first appeared on Federal News Network.