Employment protections and reinstatement of probationary career Federal employees

(a) Due process protections (1) In general Any Federal employee who is promoted to a position in the competitive service, a career position in the excepted service, or to a career appointee position in the Senior Executive Service and, after such promotion, is serving under a probationary or trial period shall be deemed to be covered by, and subject to the requirements of suchapter II or subchapter V (as the case may be) of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code. (2) VA employees Any Federal employee who is promoted to a position at the Department of Veterans Affairs and, after such promotion, is serving under a probationary or trial period shall be deemed to be covered by, and subject to the requirements of, section 714 of title 38, United States Code. (b) Reinstatement Any individual who was a Federal employee serving under a probationary or trial status after a promotion and who was removed from the competitive service, a career position in the excepted service, or a career appointee position in the Senior Executive Service during the period beginning on January 20, 2025, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act shall, at the election of the individual, be reinstated to the same position or an equivalent position with backpay in accordance with section 5596 of title 5, United States Code. (c) Limitation Subsection (a) shall not apply to any individual promoted to a political position and subsection (b) shall not apply to any individual removed from a political position. (d) Definitions In this section— (1) the term career appointee has the meaning given that term in section 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code; (2) the terms civil service, competitive service, and excepted service have the meaning given those terms in section 2101, 2102, and 2103, respectively, of such title; and (3) the term political position means— (A) a position described under sections 5312 through 5316 of such title 5 (relating to the Executive Schedule); (B) a noncareer appointee (as that term is defined in such section 3132(a)); or (C) a position in the executive branch of the Government of a confidential or policy-determining character under schedule C of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.