The REHIRE Act aims to facilitate the rehiring of federal employees who were involuntarily terminated from competitive service positions. Led by Representative Don Beyer and other House Democrats, the bill focuses on providing hiring preferences to these career federal workers, ensuring they have priority for reemployment in federal roles. The legislation offers a pathway for affected employees to return to federal service.
H.R. 3170, the Improving Access to Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act, amends the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) to expand access to care for injured federal workers. The bill authorizes nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to diagnose, prescribe treatment, certify injuries, and assess the extent of disability for federal workers’ compensation claims under FECA. This change aims to address healthcare provider shortages by allowing NPs and PAs to provide services within their state-defined scope of practice.
The Law Enforcement Officers Equity Act expands the definition of “law enforcement officer” (LEO) under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to include federal employees who carry firearms or investigate crimes. It grants these employees enhanced LEO retirement benefits, allowing retirement after 20 years of service at age 50 or 25 years at any age, and permits retroactive service credits with contributions.
The Honoring Civil Servants Killed in the Line of Duty Act is bipartisan legislation aimed at increasing death benefits for federal employees who die in the line of duty. The current $10,000 death benefit would be increased to $100,000 the funeral benefit increased from $800 to $8,800. Both amounts would be adjusted annually for inflation. Introduced by Representatives Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) in the House and Senator Kyrsten Sinema in the Senate, the bill amends Title 5 of the U.S. Code to enhance support for survivors of federal civilian employees.
H.R. 7010, the Probationary Reduction for Employee Protections Act, is a bill aimed at extending civil service protections to federal employees during their probationary periods, particularly in response to recent workforce reductions. Sponsored by Representative John Olszewski Jr. (D-MD), the legislation seeks to ensure due process for probationary employees in competitive service, excepted service, or Senior Executive Service (SES) roles who face adverse actions such as termination, suspension of more than 14 days, reduction in grade or pay, or furlough of 30 days or less.
