Federal workers get a second chance: probationary credit restored after layoffs
S. 918 — Protect Our Probationary Employees Act · Filed by Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows federal employees who were involuntarily fired during their probationary period (starting January 20, 2025) to resume that probationary period if rehired by their former agency. Instead of starting a new probationary period from scratch, they only have to complete the remaining time they hadn't yet served. The provision expires January 20, 2029.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to restore probationary-period credit for involuntarily separated federal workers, protecting their job security and seniority rights during reinstatement. This is a straightforward employee-protection measure with no hidden mechanisms.
What the text implies
- The bill's January 20, 2025 start date targets employees separated during the current administration's early personnel actions, suggesting it is a direct response to recent mass federal workforce reductions.
- The four-year sunset (January 20, 2029) means the protection expires at the end of the current presidential term, limiting its permanence and suggesting it is a temporary remedy rather than a structural reform.
- Reinstatement is limited to 'the same as the previous Federal position' at the former agency, which may exclude employees whose original positions no longer exist or have been eliminated.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Federal employees gain a concrete protection against losing seniority and job security when involuntarily separated during probation—a vulnerable period when workers have minimal due-process rights. The bill restores fairness by allowing them to complete the probationary period they began, rather than restarting it and losing credit for time already served.
Named in the bill
Federal employees, Executive agencies, Office of Personnel Management (implied), Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Mar 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 10, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $40,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Chris Van Hollen, the sponsor, reported $81,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,225 characters) on Aug 11, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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