Articles

Originally published in: WJLA 7

A group of House Democrats led by Northern Virginia Rep. Don Beyer has introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at rehiring and protecting federal workers.

The first bill, the REHIRE Act, seeks to facilitate the rehiring of federal employees who were wrongfully terminated during the Trump Administration. The bill would extend hiring preferences to career federal employees who were involuntarily removed from their positions in the competitive service during that period.

The second bill, the PREP Act, aims to reform the probationary process for federal employees, impacting both new hires and those with new jobs or recent promotions.

The bill would clear probationary period standards across federal agencies. Currently, there is no uniform probationary timeline that all agencies must follow.

The PREP Act proposes a one-year probationary period for new hires and six months for existing federal employees with new jobs or promotions.

This legislation would remove agency discretion from retroactively reclassifying permanent employees as probationary at the executive's will.

"Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing unprecedented damage to the federal workforce and the services they provide, which the American people depend on. Congress should lose no time in working to repair that damage and pass laws to stop it from happening again,” said Beyer. “My bills would pave the way to rehire many of the federal workers who devoted their careers to serving the American people, and bringing their essential expertise and experience back to public service. They would also make reforms that would prevent future mass purges like those employed by Trump and Musk, by clarifying and codifying protections in law. Congress allowed this disaster to happen, and Congress must lead in fixing it.”

The REHIRE Act is cosponsored by Reps. Gwen Moore (WI), Suhas Subramanyam (VA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Steve Cohen (TN), Sarah Elfreth (MD), Terri Sewell (AL), David Scott (GA), Chellie Pingree (ME), and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC).

The PREP Act is cosponsored by Reps. Gwen Moore (WI), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Steve Cohen (TN), Sarah Elfreth (MD), Terri Sewell (AL), David Scott (GA), Chellie Pingree (ME), and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC).

The REHIRE Act and PREP Act are endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the Endangered Species Coalition.