The EQUALS Act of 2025 extends probationary periods for most new federal employees from the current one year to two years, while maintaining a one-year period for veterans and other preference-eligible individuals. The bill requires agencies to actively certify that keeping each employee serves the public interest before their probationary period ends, or the employee will be automatically terminated. It also creates new two-year trial periods for excepted service positions (currently many have no probationary period) and raises the minimum service time required before employees can appeal adverse personnel actions from one to two years for non-veterans. The legislation affects all new federal civilian employees except those in Congress, the Postal Service, and certain other exempted positions, and would take effect one year after passage with regulations required within 180 days of enactment.
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