I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1989 
To allow Federal employees terminated while serving a probationary or trial 
period to resume such period upon reinstatement, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2025 
Ms. ELFRETH (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BAUMGARTNER, 
Mr. BEYER, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BYNUM, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. 
CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. EVANS of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. FIELDS, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. HOULAHAN, 
Mr. HOYER, Mr. HURD of Colorado, Mr. IVEY, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. KEN-
NEDY of New York, Mr. LANDSMAN, Mr. LATIMER, Ms. LEE of Pennsyl-
vania, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. 
OLSZEWSKI, Mr. PETERS, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. 
SALINAS, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. SOTO, Mr. SUBRAMANYAM, Mr. 
THANEDAR, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform 
A BILL 
To allow Federal employees terminated while serving a pro-
bationary or trial period to resume such period upon 
reinstatement, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Our Proba-
tionary Employees Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. RESUMPTION OF PROBATIONARY PERIOD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the duration of the probationary or trial period 
for a covered appointment of a covered probationary em-
ployee to become final shall be equal to the difference be-
tween— 
(1) the duration of such probationary or trial 
period that, but for this Act, would apply to such 
covered appointment; and 
(2) the duration of the probationary or trial pe-
riod that such covered probationary employee served 
in the previous Federal position of such covered pro-
bationary employee, to the extent that such duration 
does not exceed the duration described in paragraph 
(1). 
(b) SUNSET.—This Act shall terminate on January 
20, 2029. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 
(1) COVERED APPOINTMENT.—The term ‘‘cov-
ered appointment’’ means an appointment of a cov-
ered probationary employee to a position in the 
former employing agency of such covered proba-
tionary employee that, to the extent practicable, is 
the same as the previous Federal position of such 
covered probationary employee. 
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(2) COVERED PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE.—The 
term ‘‘covered probationary employee’’ means an in-
dividual who— 
(A) is, or was, involuntarily separated from 
Government service during the period beginning 
on January 20, 2025, and ending on the date 
specified in subsection (b); and 
(B) immediately prior to such separation, 
held a position in an Executive agency and 
serving a probationary or trial period under an 
initial appointment. 
(3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 
agency’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
105 of title 5, United States Code. 
(4) FORMER
EMPLOYING
AGENCY.—With re-
spect to a covered probationary employee, the term 
‘‘former employing agency’’ means the Executive 
agency from which the separation of such individual 
made such individual a covered probationary em-
ployee. 
(5) PREVIOUS FEDERAL POSITION.—The term 
‘‘previous Federal position’’ means the position in 
the Federal Government held by the covered proba-
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tionary employee immediately before becoming a cov-
ered probationary employee. 
Æ 
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