I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 687
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for an alternative removal
for performance or misconduct for Federal employees.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. L
OUDERMILK(for himself, Mr. CARTERof Georgia, Mrs. HOUCHIN, Mr.
C
RAWFORD, Mr. OWENS, Mr. COLLINS, Mrs. LUNA, Mr. WEBSTERof
Florida, Mr. M
ANN, Mr. SCOTTFRANKLINof Florida, Mr. MEUSER, Mr.
B
ABIN, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. STEUBE, and Mr. BURCHETT) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Government Reform
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for an
alternative removal for performance or misconduct for
Federal employees.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Trans-5
formation Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘MERIT Act of 2025’’. 6
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7
this Act is as follows: 8
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Termination of authority for chapter 43 performance-based actions.
Sec. 3. Adverse actions based on performance or conduct.
Sec. 4. Prohibition on grieving adverse actions and reductions in force.
Sec. 5. Actions against senior executives for performance or conduct.
Sec. 6. Actions against supervisors for performance or conduct.
Sec. 7. Modification of procedures for furlough.
Sec. 8. Reduction of annuity of employee convicted of a felony for which an ad-
verse action is or would have been taken.
Sec. 9. Authority to recoup bonuses or awards paid to employees.
Sec. 10. Extension of probationary period for positions within the Senior Exec-
utive Service.
Sec. 11. Extension of probationary period for employees in the competitive serv-
ice.
Sec. 12. Application.
SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY FOR CHAPTER 43
1
PERFORMANCE-BASED ACTIONS. 2
(a) R
EPEAL.—Section 4303 of title 5, United States 3
Code, is repealed. 4
(b) A
PPLICATION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 5
any performance-based action under section 4303 of title 6
5, United States Code, commenced before the effective 7
date provided in section 12. 8
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 9
(1) T
ITLE 5.—Title 5, United States Code, is 10
amended— 11
(A) in section 2302(e)(1)(A), by striking 12
‘‘3504, and 4303(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘and 13
3504’’; 14
(B) in section 4302(c)(6), by striking ‘‘but 15
only after an opportunity to demonstrate ac-16
ceptable performance’’; 17
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(C) in section 7512, by striking subpara-1
graph (D) and redesignating subparagraphs (E) 2
and (F) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respec-3
tively; 4
(D) in section 7701(c)(1), by striking ‘‘de-5
cision’’ and all that follows through ‘‘preponder-6
ance of the evidence’’ and inserting ‘‘decision is 7
supported by a preponderance of the evidence’’; 8
(E) in section 9508(d), by striking ‘‘(1) In 9
applying’’ and all that follows through ‘‘(2)’’; 10
and 11
(F) in section 9902(a)(2), by striking ‘‘sec-12
tions 4302 and 4303(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 13
4302’’. 14
(2) T
ITLE 31.—Section 732(d)(3) of title 31, 15
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘con-16
sistent with section 4303 of title 5’’. 17
(d) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 18
for chapter 43 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 19
by striking the item relating to section 4303. 20
SEC. 3. ADVERSE ACTIONS BASED ON PERFORMANCE OR 21
CONDUCT. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 7513 of title 5, United 23
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 24
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‘‘§ 7513. Cause and procedure 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
‘‘(1) Under regulations prescribed by the Office 3
of Personnel Management, an agency may take an 4
action described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of 5
section 7512 against an employee if the agency de-6
termines by a preponderance of the evidence the per-7
formance or misconduct of the employee warrants 8
such action. 9
‘‘(2)(A) When making an initial decision on an 10
action described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of 11
section 7512, the deciding employee of the agency 12
shall exclusively apply the following factors: 13
‘‘(i) The nature and seriousness of the of-14
fense, and its relation to the employee’s duties, 15
position, and responsibilities, including whether 16
the offense was intentional or technical or inad-17
vertent, or was committed maliciously or for 18
gain, or was frequently repeated. 19
‘‘(ii) The employee’s job level and type of 20
employment, including supervisory or fiduciary 21
role, and prominence of the position. 22
‘‘(iii) The employee’s past disciplinary 23
records. 24
‘‘(iv) The employee’s past work record, in-25
cluding length of service, performance on the 26
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job, ability to get along with fellow workers, 1
and dependability. 2
‘‘(v) Mitigating circumstances surrounding 3
the offense such as unusual job tensions person-4
ality problems, mental impairment, harassment, 5
or bad faith, malice or provocation on the part 6
of others involved in the matter. 7
‘‘(B) The agency shall review the initial decision 8
and uphold such decision if it is supported by sub-9
stantial evidence. 10
‘‘(b) P
AY OFCERTAINEMPLOYEESSUBJECT TO A 11
R
EDUCTION INGRADE.— 12
‘‘(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of 13
law, an employee subject to a reduction in grade 14
shall, beginning on the date of such reduction, re-15
ceive the annual rate of pay applicable to such 16
grade. 17
‘‘(2) An employee subject to a reduction in 18
grade may not be placed on administrative leave 19
during the period during which an appeal (if any) 20
under this section is ongoing, and may only receive 21
pay if the employee reports for duty or is approved 22
to use accrued unused annual, sick, family medical, 23
military, or court leave. 24
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‘‘(3) If an employee subject to a reduction in 1
grade does not report for duty or receive approval to 2
use accrued unused leave, such employee shall not 3
receive pay or other benefits. 4
‘‘(c) P
ROCEDURE.— 5
‘‘(1)(A) The aggregate period for written no-6
tice, response, and final decision of actions described 7
in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 7512 may 8
not exceed 15 business days unless there are reason-9
able causes to believe the employee has committed a 10
crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be 11
imposed. 12
‘‘(B) The period for which an employee may re-13
spond to a notice of actions described in paragraphs 14
(1) through (4) of section 7512 in writing and to 15
furnish affidavits and other documentary evidence in 16
support of the response shall be 7 business days. 17
‘‘(2) The agency shall issue a final decision with 18
respect to actions described in paragraphs (1) 19
through (4) of section 7512 not later than 15 busi-20
ness days after the agency provides notice, including 21
a file containing all the evidence in support of the 22
proposed action, to the employee. The decision shall 23
be in writing and shall include the specific reasons 24
therefor. 25
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‘‘(d) PIP.—The agency may carry out such actions 1
described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 7512 2
without first placing an employee on a performance im-3
provement plan. 4
‘‘(e) E
MPLOYEERIGHTS.—An employee against 5
whom actions described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of 6
section 7512 is proposed is entitled to— 7
‘‘(1) a written notice stating the specific rea-8
sons for the proposed action; 9
‘‘(2) be represented by an attorney or other 10
representative; and 11
‘‘(3) a written decision and the specific reasons 12
therefor at the earliest practicable date. 13
‘‘(f) H
EARING.—An agency may provide, by regula-14
tion, for a hearing which may be in lieu of or in addition 15
to the opportunity to answer provided under subsection 16
(c)(1)(b) of this section. 17
‘‘(g) A
PPEAL.—An employee against whom an action 18
described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 7512 19
is taken is entitled to appeal to the Merit Systems Protec-20
tion Board under section 7701 of this title not later than 21
10 business days after the effective date of the action. 22
‘‘(h) P
ROCEDURE.—Copies of the notice of proposed 23
action, the answer of the employee when written, a sum-24
mary thereof when made orally, the notice of decision and 25
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reasons therefor, and any order effecting an action de-1
scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 7512, to-2
gether with any supporting material, shall be maintained 3
by the agency and shall be furnished to the Board upon 4
its request. Upon the affected employee’s request, copies 5
of the documents described in the preceding sentence shall 6
be furnished to the employee, to the extent those docu-7
ments were not provided under subsection (c).’’. 8
(b) D
ISCIPLINE OFSUPERVISORSBASED ONRETAL-9
IATION AGAINST WHISTLEBLOWERS.—Section 10
7515(b)(2)(B) of title 5, United States Code, is amend-11
ed— 12
(1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘not later than 14 13
days’’ and inserting ‘‘not more than 7 business 14
days’’; and 15
(2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘14-day period’’ 16
and inserting ‘‘7-business-day period’’. 17
(c) A
PPLICATION.—The amendments made by sub-18
sections (a) and (b) shall not apply to any action under 19
section 7513 or 7515 of title 5, United States Code, as 20
amended by those subsections, respectively, commenced 21
before the effective date provided in section 12. 22
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SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON GRIEVING ADVERSE ACTIONS 1
AND REDUCTIONS IN FORCE. 2
Section 7121 of title 5, United States Code, is 3
amended— 4
(1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘the settle-5
ment of’’; 6
(2) in subsection (c)— 7
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 8
through (5) as paragraphs (5) through (9), re-9
spectively; and 10
(B) by inserting before paragraph (5), as 11
so redesignated, the following: 12
‘‘(1) an adverse action under subchapter II of 13
chapter 75; 14
‘‘(2) a furlough of more than 30 days by a re-15
duction in force action under subchapter I of chap-16
ter 35; 17
‘‘(3) a separation by a reduction in force action 18
under subchapter I of chapter 35; 19
‘‘(4) a demotion by a reduction in force action 20
under subchapter I of chapter 35;’’; 21
(3) in subsection (e)— 22
(A) in paragraph (1)— 23
(i) by striking ‘‘(1) Matters’’ and all 24
that follows through ‘‘but not both.’’; and 25
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(ii) in the second sentence, by striking 1
‘‘Similar matters’’ and inserting ‘‘Matters 2
similar to those covered under subchapter 3
II of chapter 75’’; and 4
(B) by striking paragraph (2); and 5
(4) in subsection (f)— 6
(A) by striking the first sentence; and 7
(B) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘In 8
matters similar to those covered under sections 9
4303 and 7512 of this title’’ and inserting ‘‘In 10
matters similar to those covered under sub-11
chapter II of chapter 75’’. 12
SEC. 5. ACTIONS AGAINST SENIOR EXECUTIVES FOR PER-13
FORMANCE OR CONDUCT. 14
(a) R
EPEAL OFPAYRETENTION FOR CAREERAP-15
POINTEESREMOVEDFROM THE SENIOREXECUTIVE 16
S
ERVICE.—Section 3594(c)(1)(B) of title 5, United States 17
Code, is amended to read as follows: 18
‘‘(B)(i) any career appointee placed under sub-19
section (a) or (b)(2) of this section shall be entitled 20
to receive basic pay at the highest of— 21
‘‘(I) the rate of basic pay in effect for the 22
position in which placed; 23
‘‘(II) the rate of basic pay in effect at the 24
time of the placement for the position the ca-25
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reer appointee held in the civil service imme-1
diately before being appointed to the Senior Ex-2
ecutive Service; or 3
‘‘(III) the rate of basic pay in effect for 4
the career appointee immediately before being 5
placed under subsection (a) or (b) of this sec-6
tion; and 7
‘‘(ii) any career appointee placed under sub-8
section (b)(1) of this section shall be entitled to re-9
ceive basic pay at the rate of basic pay in effect for 10
the position in which placed; and’’. 11
(b) A
PPRAISALSYSTEMREQUIREMENTS.—Section 12
4314(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 13
(1) in paragraph (3), by inserting before the 14
semicolon the following: ‘‘or, as warranted, from the 15
civil service’’; and 16
(2) in paragraph (4), by inserting before the pe-17
riod at the end the following: ‘‘or, as warranted, 18
from the civil service’’. 19
(c) S
USPENSION FOR14 DAYS ORLESS.—Paragraph 20
(1) of section 7501 of title 5, United States Code, is 21
amended to read as follows: 22
‘‘(1) ‘employee’ means— 23
‘‘(A) an individual in the competitive serv-24
ice who is not serving a probationary period or 25
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trial period under an initial appointment or who 1
has completed 1 year of current continuous em-2
ployment in the same or similar positions under 3
other than a temporary appointment limited to 4
1 year or less; or 5
‘‘(B) a career appointee in the Senior Ex-6
ecutive Service who— 7
‘‘(i) has completed the probationary 8
period prescribed under section 3393(d); or 9
‘‘(ii) was covered by the provisions of 10
subchapter II of this chapter immediately 11
before appointment to the Senior Executive 12
Service; and’’. 13
(d) M
ODIFICATION OFCAUSE ANDPROCEDURE FOR 14
S
USPENSION AND TERMINATION.—Section 7543 of title 15
5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 16
‘‘§ 7543. Cause and procedure 17
‘‘(a) Under regulations prescribed by the Office of 18
Personnel Management, an agency may take an action 19
covered by this subchapter against an employee if the 20
agency determines by a preponderance of the evidence the 21
performance or misconduct of the employee warrants such 22
action. 23
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‘‘(b) When making an initial decision on an action 1
covered by this subchapter, the deciding employee of the 2
agency shall exclusively apply the following factors— 3
‘‘(1) the nature and seriousness of the offense, 4
and its relation to the employee’s duties, position, 5
and responsibilities, including whether the offense 6
was intentional or technical or inadvertent, or was 7
committed maliciously or for gain, or was frequently 8
repeated; and 9
‘‘(2) the employee’s job level and type of em-10
ployment, including supervisory or fiduciary role, 11
and prominence of the position. 12
‘‘(c) The agency shall review the initial decision and 13
uphold such decision if it is supported by substantial evi-14
dence. 15
‘‘(d)(1)(A) The aggregate period for written notice, 16
response, and final decision of actions covered by this sub-17
chapter may not exceed 15 business days unless there are 18
reasonable causes to believe the employee has committed 19
a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be im-20
posed. 21
‘‘(B) The period for which an employee may respond 22
to a notice of actions covered by this subchapter in writing 23
and to furnish affidavits and other documentary evidence 24
in support of the response shall be 7 business days. (2) 25
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The agency shall issue a final decision with respect to a 1
covered actions not later than 15 business days after the 2
agency provides notice, including a file containing all the 3
evidence in support of the proposed action, to the em-4
ployee. The decision shall be in writing and shall include 5
the specific reasons therefor. 6
‘‘(e) An employee against whom an action covered by 7
this subchapter is proposed is entitled to— 8
‘‘(1) a written notice stating the specific rea-9
sons for the proposed action; 10
‘‘(2) be represented by an attorney or other 11
representative; and 12
‘‘(3) a written decision and the specific reasons 13
therefor at the earliest practicable date. 14
‘‘(f) An agency may provide, by regulation, for a 15
hearing which may be in lieu of or in addition to the op-16
portunity to answer provided under subsection (d)(1)(B) 17
of this section. 18
‘‘(g) An employee against whom an action is taken 19
under this section is entitled to appeal to the Merit Sys-20
tems Protection Board under section 7701 of this title not 21
later than 10 business days after the effective date of the 22
action. 23
‘‘(h) Copies of the notice of proposed action, the an-24
swer of the employee when written, a summary thereof 25
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when made orally, the notice of decision and reasons there-1
for, and any order effecting an action covered by this sub-2
chapter, together with any supporting material, shall be 3
maintained by the agency and shall be furnished to the 4
Board upon its request. Upon the affected employee’s re-5
quest, copies of the documents described in the preceding 6
sentence shall be furnished to the employee, to the extent 7
those documents were not provided under subsection (c). 8
‘‘(i) In this section, the term ‘misconduct’ includes 9
neglect of duty, malfeasance, or failure to accept a di-10
rected reassignment or to accompany a position in a trans-11
fer of function.’’. 12
(e) R
ELATION TOOTHERPROVISIONS OFLAW.— 13
Section 3592(b)(1) of title 5, United States Code, deso 14
not apply to an action under section 7543(a), as amended 15
in subsection (d). 16
(f) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 5, United 17
States Code, is amended— 18
(1) in section 3592(b)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘any 19
disciplinary action’’ and inserting ‘‘any action under 20
section 7543’’; 21
(2) in section 3593(a)(2), by striking ‘‘mis-22
conduct, neglect of duty, malfeasance,’’ and insert-23
ing ‘‘a removal under section 7543’’; 24
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(3) in section 3594, by adding at the end the 1
following: 2
‘‘(d) This section shall not apply to any career ap-3
pointee who is subject to a personnel action under sub-4
chapter V of chapter 75.’’; and 5
(4) in section 7542, by striking ‘‘or to a re-6
moval under section 3592 or 3595’’ and inserting 7
the following: ‘‘to a removal from the Senior Execu-8
tive Service under section 3592 of this title, to a re-9
duction in force as defined in section 3595(d) of this 10
title, or to a transfer of function as described in sec-11
tion 3595(e)’’. 12
(g) A
PPLICATION.—The amendments made by this 13
section shall not apply to any personnel action under sub-14
chapter V of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, 15
commenced before the effective date of this Act. 16
SEC. 6. ACTIONS AGAINST SUPERVISORS FOR PERFORM-17
ANCE OR CONDUCT. 18
Subchapter II of title 5, United States Code, is 19
amended— 20
(1) by redesignating sections 7514 and 7515 as 21
sections 7516 and 7517, respectively; and 22
(2) by inserting after section 7513 the fol-23
lowing: 24
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‘‘§ 7514. Supervisors 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
‘‘(1) The agency may take an action covered by 3
this subchapter against a supervisor, as defined in 4
section 7103(a)(10), if the agency determines by a 5
preponderance of the evidence that the performance 6
or misconduct of the supervisor warrants such ac-7
tion. 8
‘‘(2) When making an initial decision on an ac-9
tion covered by this subchapter, the deciding em-10
ployee of the agency shall exclusively apply the fol-11
lowing factors: 12
‘‘(A) The nature and seriousness of the of-13
fense, and its relation to the supervisor’s duties, 14
position, and responsibilities, including whether 15
the offense was intentional or technical or inad-16
vertent, or was committed maliciously or for 17
gain, or was frequently repeated. 18
‘‘(B) The supervisor’s job level and type of 19
employment, including supervisory or fiduciary 20
role, and prominence of the position. 21
‘‘(3) The agency shall review the initial decision 22
and uphold such decision if it is supported by sub-23
stantial evidence. 24
‘‘(4) A supervisor against whom an action cov-25
ered by this subchapter is proposed is entitled to— 26
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‘‘(A) a written notice stating the specific 1
reasons for the proposed action; 2
‘‘(B) be represented by an attorney or 3
other representative; and 4
‘‘(C) a written decision and the specific 5
reasons therefor at the earliest practicable date. 6
‘‘(5) The agency may carry out such action cov-7
ered by this subchapter without first placing a su-8
pervisor on a performance improvement plan. 9
‘‘(6) The procedures under chapter 43 shall not 10
apply to an action covered by this subchapter. 11
‘‘(b) P
ROCEDURE.—(1)(A) The aggregate period for 12
written notice, response, and final decision of actions cov-13
ered by this subchapter may not exceed 15 business days 14
unless there are reasonable causes to believe the employee 15
has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprison-16
ment may be imposed. 17
‘‘(B) The period for which an employee may respond 18
to a notice of actions covered by this subchapter in writing 19
and to furnish affidavits and other documentary evidence 20
in support of the response shall be 7 business days. 21
‘‘(2) The agency shall issue a final decision with re-22
spect to a covered action not later than 15 business days 23
after the agency provides notice, including a file con-24
taining all the evidence in support of the proposed action, 25
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to the employee. The decision shall be in writing and shall 1
include the specific reasons therefor. 2
‘‘(c) R
EDUCTION INGRADE.— 3
‘‘(1) A reduction in grade under subsection (a) 4
shall be carried out as a reduction in grade for 5
which the covered individual is qualified, that the 6
agency determines is appropriate, and that reduces 7
the annual rate of pay of the supervisor. 8
‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of 9
law, any supervisor subject to a reduction in grade— 10
‘‘(A) shall, beginning on the date of such 11
demotion, receive the annual rate of pay appli-12
cable to such grade; 13
‘‘(B) may not be placed on administrative 14
leave during the period during which an appeal 15
(if any) under this section is ongoing, and may 16
only receive pay if the supervisor reports for 17
duty or is approved to use accrued unused an-18
nual, sick, family medical, military, or court 19
leave; and 20
‘‘(C) who does not report for duty or re-21
ceive approval to use accrued unused leave shall 22
not receive pay or other benefits. 23
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‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘super-1
visor’ has the meaning given that term under section 2
7103(a).’’. 3
SEC. 7. MODIFICATION OF PROCEDURES FOR FURLOUGH. 4
(a) F
URLOUGH OF14 DAYS ORLESS; EMERGENCY 5
F
URLOUGH.—Subchapter I of chapter 75 of title 5, 6
United States Code, is amended— 7
(1) in section 7501, as amended by section 8
5(c),— 9
(A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 10
the end; 11
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 12
paragraph (4); and 13
(C) by inserting the following after para-14
graph (1) the following: 15
‘‘(2) ‘furlough’ has the meaning given that term 16
in section 7511(a)(5); 17
‘‘(3) ‘emergency furlough’ means a furlough 18
due to a lapse in appropriations;’’; 19
(2) in section 7502, by striking ‘‘This sub-20
chapter’’ and all that follows through ‘‘this title.’’ 21
and inserting the following: ‘‘This subchapter applies 22
to— 23
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‘‘(1) a suspension for 14 days or less, but not 1
a suspension under section 7521 or 7532 or any ac-2
tion initiated under section 1215; 3
‘‘(2) a furlough for 14 days or less; and 4
‘‘(3) an emergency furlough of any duration.’’; 5
(3) by redesignating section 7504 as section 6
7505; and 7
(4) by inserting after section 7503, the fol-8
lowing: 9
‘‘§ 7504. Furlough and emergency furlough cause and 10
procedure 11
‘‘(a) G
ENERALFURLOUGH.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An employee may be sub-13
ject to a furlough for such cause as will promote the 14
efficiency of the service. Any employee furloughed 15
under this section is entitled to the procedures es-16
tablished under the regulations promulgated under 17
paragraph (2). 18
‘‘(2) P
ROCEDURES.—Not later than 180 days 19
after the date of enactment of this section, the Of-20
fice of Personnel Management shall promulgate reg-21
ulations providing for— 22
‘‘(A) the circumstances under which an 23
employee may be furloughed under this section; 24
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‘‘(B) the procedures to be afforded fur-1
loughed employees, including, to the extent ap-2
propriate and practicable under the cir-3
cumstances of the furlough action— 4
‘‘(i) a written notice stating the spe-5
cific reasons for the proposed action; 6
‘‘(ii) be represented by an attorney or 7
other representative; and 8
‘‘(iii) a written decision and the spe-9
cific reasons therefor at the earliest prac-10
ticable date; and 11
‘‘(C) the materials that shall be furnished 12
to a furloughed employee and the Merit Sys-13
tems Protection Board upon request of the em-14
ployee or the Board. 15
‘‘(b) E
MERGENCYFURLOUGH.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An employee may be sub-17
ject to an emergency furlough. 18
‘‘(2) P
ROCEDURES.— 19
‘‘(A) N
OTICE.—Under regulations pre-20
scribed by the Office of Personnel Management, 21
any employee subject to an emergency furlough 22
shall be afforded notice explaining the reasons 23
for the emergency furlough. If the notice cannot 24
be provided in advance of the emergency fur-25
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lough, notice shall be provided as soon as rea-1
sonably practicable. 2
‘‘(B) O
THER PROCEDURES .—No other pro-3
cedures, including those provided under sub-4
section (a) or any other provision of this title, 5
shall be available to any employee subject to an 6
emergency furlough under this subsection. 7
‘‘(3) D
EFINITION.—For the purposes of this 8
section, the term ‘employee’ means any employee de-9
scribed under section 7501(1).’’. 10
(b) F
URLOUGH OF MORETHAN14 DAYS.—Sub-11
chapter II of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, 12
is amended— 13
(1) in section 7511(a)(5) by inserting before 14
the period the following: ‘‘, but does not include an 15
emergency furlough as defined in section 7501 of 16
title 5’’. 17
(2) in section 7512, as amended by section 18
2(c)— 19
(A) in paragraph (5) by striking ‘‘a fur-20
lough of 30 days or less’’ and inserting ‘‘a fur-21
lough of more than 14 days but less than 31 22
days’’; 23
(B) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated 24
by section 2(c), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 25
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(C) in subparagraph (E), as redesignated 1
by section 2(c), by striking the period at the 2
end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 3
(D) by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(F) an emergency furlough action under 5
section 7504.’’; 6
(3) by inserting after section 7514, as added by 7
section 6, the following: 8
‘‘§ 7515. Furlough cause and procedure 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—An employee may be subject to 10
a furlough for such cause as will promote the efficiency 11
of the service. Any employee furloughed under this section 12
is entitled to the procedures established under the regula-13
tions promulgated under subsection (b). 14
‘‘(b) P
ROCEDURES.—Not later than 180 days after 15
the date of enactment of this section, the Office of Per-16
sonnel Management shall promulgate regulations pro-17
viding for— 18
‘‘(1) the circumstances under which an em-19
ployee may be furloughed under this section; 20
‘‘(2) the procedures provided under section 21
7513 to the extent appropriate and practicable 22
under the circumstances of the furlough action; and 23
‘‘(3) the materials that shall be furnished to a 24
furloughed employee and the Merit Systems Protec-25
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tion Board upon request of the employee or the 1
Board. 2
‘‘(c) A
PPEAL.—An employee against whom a fur-3
lough action is taken under this section is entitled to ap-4
peal to the Merit Systems Protection Board under section 5
7701 not later than 10 business days after the effective 6
date of the action.’’. 7
(d) A
DMINISTRATIVE LAWJUDGES.—Section 8
7521(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 9
(1) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 10
end; 11
(2) in subparagraph (C) by striking the period 12
at the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 13
(3) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(D) an emergency furlough action under 15
section 7504.’’. 16
(e) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENTS.— 17
(1) S
ECTION 7503.—The heading of section 18
7503 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 19
striking ‘‘Cause and procedure’’ and inserting 20
‘‘Suspension cause and procedure ’’,. 21
(2) S
ECTION 7513.—Section 7513 of title 5, 22
United States Code, is amended by striking 23
‘‘Cause and procedure’’ and inserting ‘‘Cause 24
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and procedure for actions other than fur-1
lough’’. 2
(f) C
LERICALAMENDMENTS.— 3
(1) S
UBCHAPTER I OF CHAPTER 75 OF TITLE 4
5.—The table of sections for subchapter I of chapter 5
75 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 6
striking the items relating to sections 7503 and 7
7504 and inserting the following: 8
‘‘7503. Suspension cause and procedure.
‘‘7504. Furlough and emergency furlough cause and procedure.
‘‘7505. Regulations.’’.
(2) SUBCHAPTER II OF CHAPTER 75 OF TITLE 9
5.—The table of sections for subchapter II of chap-10
ter 75 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 11
striking the items relating to sections 7513 through 12
7515 and inserting the following: 13
‘‘7513. Cause and procedure for actions other than furlough.
‘‘7514. Supervisors.
‘‘7515. Furlough cause and procedure.
‘‘7516. Regulations.
‘‘7517. Discipline of supervisors based on retaliation against whistleblowers.’’.
(g) APPLICATION.—Notwithstanding section 12, the 14
amendments made by this section shall take effect on the 15
earlier of— 16
(1) the date that is 180 days after the date of 17
enactment of this Act; or 18
(2) the date on which the Office of Personnel 19
Management promulgates regulations provided 20
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under sections 7504 and 7515 of title 5, United 1
States Code, as added by this section. 2
SEC. 8. REDUCTION OF ANNUITY OF EMPLOYEE CON-3
VICTED OF A FELONY FOR WHICH AN AD-4
VERSE ACTION IS OR WOULD HAVE BEEN 5
TAKEN. 6
(a) R
EDUCTION OF ANNUITY OFEMPLOYEECON-7
VICTED OF AFELONY FORWHICH ANADVERSEACTION 8
I
STAKEN.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 83 10
of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding 11
at the end the following: 12
‘‘§ 8323. Reduction of benefits of employees convicted 13
of certain crimes 14
‘‘(a) R
EDUCTION OFANNUITY.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The felonious service of a 16
covered individual shall not be taken into account 17
for purposes of calculating an annuity with respect 18
to the individual under subchapter III of this chap-19
ter or chapter 84 if— 20
‘‘(A) the covered individual is finally con-21
victed of a felony; and 22
‘‘(B) the head of the agency at which the 23
individual was employed determines that the 24
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conviction was based on the acts or omissions 1
of the covered individual that— 2
‘‘(i) were taken or not taken in the 3
performance of the covered individual’s of-4
ficial duties at the agency; and 5
‘‘(ii) are sufficient to support a re-6
moval action under section 7513, 7543, or 7
any other provision of law against the cov-8
ered individual. 9
‘‘(2) P
ROCEDURES.—A covered individual 10
against whom a determination is made under para-11
graph (1) shall be afforded— 12
‘‘(A) notice of the determination not later 13
than 15 business days in advance of a final 14
order under paragraph (3); and 15
‘‘(B) an opportunity to respond to the de-16
termination by not later than 10 business days 17
after receipt of the notice. 18
‘‘(3) F
INAL ORDER.—The head of the agency 19
shall issue a final order to carry out paragraph (1) 20
not later than— 21
‘‘(A) in the case of a covered individual 22
who responds under paragraph (2)(B), 5 busi-23
ness days after receiving the response from the 24
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covered individual, to the maximum extent 1
practicable; or 2
‘‘(B) in the case of a covered individual 3
who does not so respond, 15 business days after 4
the date on which the head of the agency pro-5
vided notice to the individual under paragraph 6
(2)(A), to the maximum extent practicable. 7
‘‘(4) A
PPEAL.—A covered individual with re-8
spect to whom an annuity is to be reduced under 9
this subsection may appeal the final order under 10
paragraph (3) to the Merit Systems Protection 11
Board in accordance with any regulations that the 12
Board may prescribe for purposes of this subsection. 13
An appeal may not be made under this paragraph 14
later than that date that is 10 business days after 15
the date on which an order is issued under para-16
graph (3). 17
‘‘(b) A
DMINISTRATIVEREQUIREMENTS.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 business 19
days after the date on which the head of an agency 20
issues a final order under subsection (a) or a final 21
decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board is 22
rendered (as the case may be) with respect to an in-23
dividual, the applicable employing agency shall 24
amend the covered individual’s retirement records to 25
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reflect the period of service that is no longer cred-1
itable by operation of this section and transmit the 2
amended records to the Director of the Office of 3
Personnel Management. 4
‘‘(2) A
NNUITANTS.—With respect to any cov-5
ered individual who is an annuitant on the date on 6
which a final order is so issued, the Director of the 7
Office of Personnel Management shall, not later 8
than 30 business days after the receipt of amended 9
retirement records from an agency under paragraph 10
(1), recalculate the annuity of the annuitant. 11
‘‘(c) L
UMP-SUMANNUITYCREDIT.—A covered indi-12
vidual with respect to whom an annuity is reduced under 13
subsection (a) shall be entitled to be paid so much of the 14
individual’s lump-sum credit as is attributable to the pe-15
riod of felonious service. 16
‘‘(d) S
POUSEEXCEPTION.—The spouse of any cov-17
ered individual referred to in subsection (a) shall be eligi-18
ble for spousal annuity benefits that, but for subsection 19
(a), would otherwise have been payable if the Attorney 20
General of the United States or the attorney general of 21
a State, a territory, or the District of Columbia determines 22
that the spouse fully cooperated with authorities in the 23
conduct of a criminal investigation and subsequent pros-24
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ecution of the individual that resulted in the benefit reduc-1
tion. 2
‘‘(e) A
PPLICATION.—Nothing in this section shall be 3
construed to affect or otherwise mitigate the application 4
of any other section of this subchapter. 5
‘‘(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 6
‘‘(1) the term ‘covered individual’ means— 7
‘‘(A) an individual who is removed from a 8
position as an employee (as defined in section 9
2105) in the civil service for performance or 10
misconduct under section 7513, 7543, or any 11
other provision of law; or 12
‘‘(B) an individual who— 13
‘‘(i) is an employee (as defined in sec-14
tion 2105) subject to a removal action for 15
performance or misconduct under section 16
7513, 7543, or any other provision of law; 17
and 18
‘‘(ii) voluntarily separates from service 19
with the employing agency prior to the 20
issuance of a final decision with respect to 21
the removal action; 22
‘‘(2) the term ‘felonious service’ means, with re-23
spect to a covered individual, the period of service— 24
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‘‘(A) beginning on the date on which the 1
head of the employing agency determines that 2
the individual commenced engaging in the acts 3
or omissions that gave rise to the removal ac-4
tion or proposed removal action described in 5
paragraph (1); and 6
‘‘(B) ending on the date that is the earlier 7
of— 8
‘‘(i) the date on which the individual 9
is removed from or voluntarily separates 10
from a position at the agency; or 11
‘‘(ii) the date on which the individual 12
ceases engaging in the acts or omissions 13
that gave rise to the removal action or pro-14
posed removal action described in para-15
graph (1); 16
‘‘(3) the term ‘finally convicted’ or ‘final convic-17
tion’ refers to a conviction of a felony— 18
‘‘(A) that has not been appealed and is no 19
longer appealable because the time for taking 20
an appeal has expired; or 21
‘‘(B) that has been appealed and the ap-22
peals process for which is completed; 23
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‘‘(4) the term ‘lump-sum credit’ has the mean-1
ing given that term in section 8331(8) or 8401(19) 2
(as the case may be); and 3
‘‘(5) the term ‘service’ has the meaning given 4
that term in section 8331(12) or 8401(26) (as the 5
case may be).’’. 6
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-7
tions for subchapter II of chapter 83 of title 5, 8
United States Code, is amended by adding at the 9
end the following: 10
‘‘8323. Reduction of benefits of employees convicted of certain crimes.’’.
(b) APPLICATION.—Section 8323 of title 5, United 11
States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall apply to 12
acts or omissions described in subsection (a)(1)(B) of that 13
section occurring after the date of enactment of this Act. 14
(c) R
EGULATIONS.—The Office of Personnel Man-15
agement may prescribe regulations to carry out this sec-16
tion and the amendments made by this section. 17
SEC. 9. AUTHORITY TO RECOUP BONUSES OR AWARDS 18
PAID TO EMPLOYEES. 19
(a) A
DVERSEFINDINGS ANDEMPLOYEESUNDERIN-20
VESTIGATION.—Chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, 21
is amended by adding at the end the following: 22
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‘‘Subchapter IV—Limitations on Bonus 1
Authority 2
‘‘§ 4531. Certain forms of misconduct 3
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
‘‘(1) A
DVERSE FINDING.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘adverse 6
finding’ means a determination by the head of 7
the agency employing an employee that the con-8
duct of the employee— 9
‘‘(i) violated a policy of the agency for 10
which the employee may be removed or 11
suspended for a period of not less than 14 12
days; or 13
‘‘(ii) violated a law for which the em-14
ployee may be imprisoned for more than 1 15
year. 16
‘‘(B) B
ASIS.—A determination described in 17
subparagraph (A) may be based on an inves-18
tigation by, a determination of, or information 19
provided by the Inspector General or another 20
senior ethics official of an agency or the Comp-21
troller General of the United States, as part of 22
carrying out an activity, authority, or function 23
of the Inspector General, senior ethics official, 24
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or Comptroller General, respectively, under a 1
provision of law other than this section. 2
‘‘(2) A
GENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 3
meaning given the term in section 551. 4
‘‘(3) B
ONUS.—The term ‘bonus’ means any 5
performance award or cash award under— 6
‘‘(A) section 4505a; 7
‘‘(B) section 5384; or 8
‘‘(C) section 5754. 9
‘‘(4) E
MPLOYEE.—The term ‘employee’ means 10
an employee of an agency. 11
‘‘(b) P
ROHIBITION.—The head of an agency may not 12
award a bonus to an employee of the agency until the date 13
that is 5 years after the end of the fiscal year during which 14
the head of an agency makes an adverse finding relating 15
to the employee. 16
‘‘(c) A
FTERBONUSAWARDED.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For a bonus awarded to an 18
employee after the date of enactment of this section, 19
if the head of the agency employing the employee 20
makes an adverse finding relating to the employee 21
during the fiscal year in which the bonus is awarded, 22
the head of the agency, after notice and an oppor-23
tunity for a hearing, shall issue an order directing 24
the employee to repay the amount of the bonus. 25
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‘‘(2) REPAYMENT PLAN.—An agency shall allow 1
an employee who is required to repay a bonus under 2
paragraph (1) to repay that bonus using a repay-3
ment plan. 4
‘‘(3) H
EARINGS.—A hearing under this sub-5
section shall be conducted in accordance with regula-6
tions relating to hearings promulgated by the head 7
of the agency under chapter 75. 8
‘‘(d) C
ONDITION OFRECEIPT.—As a condition of re-9
ceiving a bonus awarded after the date of enactment of 10
this section, an employee shall sign a certification stating 11
that the employee shall repay the bonus in accordance with 12
a final order issued under subsection (c). 13
‘‘(e) A
PPEAL.—An employee determined to be ineli-14
gible for a bonus under subsection (b) or against whom 15
an order is issued under subsection (c) may submit an 16
appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board under sec-17
tion 7701.’’. 18
(b) R
ULEMAKING.—The head of each agency, as de-19
fined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code, may 20
promulgate rules to carry out section 4531 of title 5, 21
United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 22
(c) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 23
The table of sections for chapter 45 of title 5, United 24
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States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS AUTHORITY
‘‘4531. Certain forms of misconduct.
SEC. 10. EXTENSION OF PROBATIONARY PERIOD FOR POSI-
3
TIONS WITHIN THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE 4
SERVICE. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 3393(d) of title 5, United 6
States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘1-year’’ and insert-7
ing ‘‘2-year’’. 8
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 3592(a)(1) 9
of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘1- 10
year’’ and inserting ‘‘2-year’’. 11
(c) A
PPLICATION.—The amendments made by this 12
section shall apply in the case of any individual initially 13
appointed as a career appointee under section 3393 of title 14
5, United States Code, on or after the effective date pro-15
vided in section 12 of this Act. 16
SEC. 11. EXTENSION OF PROBATIONARY PERIOD FOR EM-17
PLOYEES IN THE COMPETITIVE SERVICE. 18
(a) E
XTENSION OFPROBATIONARYPERIOD.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 3321 of title 5, 20
United States Code, is amended— 21
(A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘The 22
President’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to sub-23
sections (c) and (d), the President’’; 24
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(B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-1
section (e); and 2
(C) by inserting after subsection (b) the 3
following: 4
‘‘(c)(1) The length of a probationary period estab-5
lished under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) shall— 6
‘‘(A) with respect to any position that requires 7
formal training, begin on the date of the appoint-8
ment to the position and end on the date that is 2 9
years after the date on which the formal training is 10
completed; 11
‘‘(B) with respect to any position that requires 12
a license, begin on the date of the appointment to 13
the position and end on the date that is 2 years 14
after the date of the appointment or the date on 15
which the license is granted, whichever is later; and 16
‘‘(C) with respect to any position not covered by 17
subparagraph (A) or (B), be a period of 2 years be-18
ginning on the date of the appointment to the posi-19
tion. 20
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)— 21
‘‘(A) the term ‘formal training’ means, with re-22
spect to any position, a training program required 23
by law, rule, or regulation, or otherwise required by 24
the employing agency, to be completed by the em-25
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ployee before the employee is able to successfully 1
execute the duties of the applicable position; and 2
‘‘(B) the term ‘license’ means a license, certifi-3
cation, or other grant of permission to engage in a 4
particular activity. 5
‘‘(d) The head of each agency shall, in the adminis-6
tration of this section, take appropriate measures to en-7
sure that— 8
‘‘(1) any announcement of a vacant position 9
and any offer of appointment made to an individual 10
with respect to a vacant position clearly states the 11
terms and conditions of any applicable probationary 12
period, including any formal training period and any 13
license requirement; 14
‘‘(2) any individual who is required to complete 15
a probationary period under this section receives 16
timely notice of any requirements, including per-17
formance requirements, that must be met in order to 18
satisfactorily complete that period; 19
‘‘(3) any supervisor or manager of an individual 20
who is required to complete a probationary period 21
under this section receives periodic notifications of 22
the end date of that period not later than 1 year, 23
6 months, 3 months, and 30 days before the end 24
date; and 25
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‘‘(4) if the agency head decides to retain an in-1
dividual after the completion of a probationary pe-2
riod under this section, the agency head submits a 3
certification to that effect to the President, sup-4
ported by a brief statement of the basis for the cer-5
tification, in such form and manner as the President 6
may by regulation prescribe.’’. 7
(2) T
ECHNICAL AMENDMENT .—Section 3321(e) 8
of title 5, United States Code (as so redesignated by 9
paragraph (1)), is amended by striking ‘‘Subsections 10
(a) and (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsections (a) through 11
(d)’’. 12
(3) A
PPLICATION.—This subsection and the 13
amendments made by this subsection shall apply in 14
the case of any appointment (as referred to in sec-15
tion 3321(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code) and 16
any initial appointment (as referred to in section 17
3321(a)(2) of that title) taking effect on or after the 18
effective date provided in section 12 of this Act. 19
(b) A
DVERSEACTIONS.— 20
(1) S
UBCHAPTER I OF CHAPTER 75 OF TITLE 21
5.—Section 7501(1) of title 5, United States Code, 22
as amended by sections 5(c) and 7(a)(1), is further 23
amended— 24
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(A) by striking ‘‘or, except’’ and inserting 1
‘‘and, except’’; and 2
(B) by striking ‘‘1 year of current’’ and in-3
serting ‘‘2 years of current’’. 4
(2) S
UBCHAPTER II OF CHAPTER 75 OF TITLE 5
5.—Section 7511(a)(1) of title 5, United States 6
Code, is amended— 7
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 8
(i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 9
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10
(ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘1 year’’ 11
the first place it appears and inserting ‘‘2 12
years’’; 13
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘1 14
year’’ and inserting ‘‘2 years’’; and 15
(C) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking ‘‘; 16
or’’ and inserting ‘‘; and’’. 17
(3) A
PPLICATION.—The amendments made by 18
paragraphs (1) and (2) shall apply in the case of 19
any individual whose period of continuous service 20
commences on or after the effective date provided in 21
section 12. 22
(c) R
EGULATIONS.—The Office of Personnel Man-23
agement may prescribe regulations to carry out this sec-24
tion and the amendments made by this section. 25
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SEC. 12. APPLICATION. 1
(a) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—Unless otherwise specifically 2
provided for in this Act, the amendments made by this 3
Act shall take effect on the date that is 1 year after the 4
date of enactment of this Act. 5
(b) C
OLLECTIVEBARGAININGAGREEMENTS.—Not-6
withstanding any other provision of law, the procedures 7
established or amended by this Act shall supersede any 8
collective bargaining agreement to the extent that the 9
agreement is inconsistent with those procedures. 10
(c) D
EFINITION OFBUSINESSDAY.—For purposes 11
of carrying out this Act and the amendments made by this 12
Act, the term ‘‘business day’’ means any day other than 13
a Saturday, Sunday, or legal public holiday under section 14
6103(a) of title 5, United States Code. 15
Æ
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