[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 81 (Tuesday, April 29, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 17729-17733]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07469]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 81 / Tuesday, April 29, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 17729]]
Executive Order 14284 of April 24, 2025
Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal
Service
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including sections 3301 and 3302 of title 5,
United States Code, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. The American people deserve a
Federal workforce that is high-quality, efficient,
dedicated to the public interest, and no larger than
necessary. Probationary periods (for employees in the
competitive service) and trial periods (for employees
in the excepted service) have provided a longstanding
critical tool to assess the fitness of newly hired
Federal employees before finalizing their appointments
to Federal service.
The Government Accountability Office has documented,
however, that agencies have not been using probationary
and trial periods as effectively as they could to
remove appointees whose continued employment is not in
the public interest. As a result of this failure to
remove poor performers, agencies have often retained
and given tenure to underperforming employees who
should have been screened out during their probationary
period.
Conditions of good administration require that agency
approval should be required before probationary
employees become tenured Federal employees. As the
Merit Systems Protection Board recommended in its 2005
report The Probationary Period: A Critical Assessment
Opportunity, there should be ``procedures so that a
probationer does not automatically become an employee
in the absence of agency action.'' And in the absence
of agency certification that the probationer will be an
asset to the Government, ``the probationer's employment
should automatically terminate upon the expiration of
the probationary period.'' This order directs this
commonsense change.
Further, the regulations at subpart H of part 315 of
title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, which purport to
limit agency action with respect to employees serving a
probationary period, are not statutorily required,
place undue burdens on agencies in terminating
probationary employees, and deter managers from
undertaking that effort.
To ensure that agencies make better use of probationary
and trial periods, this order issues a new Civil
Service Rule XI that will supersede subpart H. Under
Civil Service Rule XI, agencies will have to
affirmatively determine that the continued employment
of individuals serving probationary or trial periods
would benefit the Federal service before such
appointments are finalized.
Sec. 2. Repeal of Civil Service Rule 2.4. Civil Service
Rule II is amended by removing section 2.4 of part 2 of
title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.
Sec. 3. Civil Service Rule XI. A new Civil Service Rule
XI is added following Civil Service Rule X, to read as
follows:
``PART 11--PROBATIONARY AND TRIAL PERIODS (RULE XI)
Sec.
11.1 Scope
11.2 Probationary Period; When Required
11.3 Trial Period; When Required
11.4 Crediting Service
11.5 Completion of Probationary or Trial Period
[[Page 17730]]
11.6 Appeals
Sec. 11.1 Scope
This rule applies to probationary periods in the
competitive service and trial periods in the excepted
service, except where provided otherwise by statute. It
has no application to probationary periods in the
Senior Executive Service.
Sec. 11.2 Probationary Period; When Required
(a) The first year of service of an employee who is
given a career or career-conditional appointment in the
competitive service under the Civil Service Regulations
is a probationary period when the employee:
(1) Was appointed from a competitive list of eligibles.
(2) Was reinstated (including reinstatement from a Reinstatement Priority
List), unless during any period of service that affords a current basis for
reinstatement the employee completed a probationary period of at least 1
year or served with competitive status under an appointment that did not
require a probationary period; provided that the date of reinstatement
begins a new 12-month probationary period if one is required under
paragraph (a) of this section.
(b) A person who is required to go through a
probationary period and then is transferred, promoted,
demoted, or reassigned in accordance with the Civil
Service Regulations before he or she completes such
period is required to complete the remainder of the
probationary period in the new position.
(c) Upon noncompetitive appointment to the
competitive service under the Postal Reorganization Act
(39 U.S.C. 101 et seq.), an employee of the Postal
Career Service (including a substitute or part-time
flexible employee) who has not completed 1 year of
Postal service must serve the remainder of a 1-year
probationary period in the new agency.
(d) A person who is appointed to the competitive
service either by a special appointing authority or by
conversion to a career or career-conditional
appointment under the Civil Service Regulations must
serve a 1-year probationary period unless specifically
exempt from such period by the special appointing
authority itself.
(e) Employees promoted, transferred, or otherwise
assigned, for the first time, to supervisory or
managerial positions shall be required to serve a
probationary period under terms and conditions
prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
If an employee is required to concurrently serve both a
probationary period in a supervisory or managerial
position under 5 CFR part 315, subpart I, and a
probationary or trial period following initial
appointment or reinstatement under this Civil Service
Rule, the latter takes precedence and fulfills the
requirements of this paragraph.
Sec. 11.3 Trial Period; When Required
(a) The first year of continuous service in the
same or similar position of a preference eligible in
the excepted service, or the first 2 years of
continuous service in the same or similar position of
an individual in the excepted service (other than a
preference eligible), is a trial period.
(b) A person who is required to go through a trial
period and is transferred, promoted, demoted, or
reassigned before he or she completes the trial period
is required to complete the remainder of the trial
period in the new position.
(c) An individual who separates from the Federal
service for a period of more than 30 days after
completing a trial period, and who subsequently is
reappointed to an excepted service position, must
complete a new trial period unless such individual is
appointed to the same or a substantially similar
position in the same agency as their most recently held
position.
Sec. 11.4 Crediting Service
[[Page 17731]]
(a) Prior Federal civilian service (including
nonappropriated fund service) counts toward completion
of a probationary or trial period, as applicable, when
the prior service:
(1) Is in the same agency, e.g., Department of the Army;
(2) Is in the same line of work, as determined by the employee's actual
duties and responsibilities; and
(3) Contains or is followed by no more than a single break in service that
does not exceed 30 calendar days.
(b) Periods of absence while in a pay status count
toward completion of a probationary or trial period.
Absence in nonpay status while on the rolls (other than
for compensable injury or military duty) is creditable
up to a total of 22 workdays. Absence (whether on or
off the rolls) due to compensable injury or military
duty is creditable in full upon restoration to Federal
service. Nonpay time in excess of 22 workdays extends
the probationary period or trial period by an equal
amount.
(c) The probationary or trial period for part-time
employees is computed on the basis of calendar time, in
the same manner as for full-time employees. For
intermittent employees, i.e., those who do not have
regularly scheduled tours of duty, each day or part of
a day in pay status counts as one day of credit toward
the 260 days or 520 days, as applicable, in a pay
status required for completion of a probationary or
trial period. Under no circumstances shall the
probationary or trial period be completed in less than
1 year of calendar time.
Sec. 11.5 Completion of Probationary or Trial
Period
(a) Agencies shall utilize probationary and trial
periods required upon initial appointment or subsequent
reinstatement to evaluate employees' fitness and
whether their continuation of employment advances the
public interest. If not terminated sooner, an
employee's service terminates before the end of the
tour of duty on the last day of their probationary or
trial period unless their agency certifies within the
30 days prior to that date that finalizing their
appointment advances the public interest.
(b) A probationary or trial period ends when the
employee completes his or her scheduled tour of duty on
the day before the anniversary date (or, as applicable,
2-year anniversary date) of the employee's appointment.
For example, when the last workday is a Friday and the
anniversary date is the following Monday, a probationer
will be separated before the end of the tour of duty on
Friday if their agency does not make the requisite
certification that their continued appointment advances
the public interest.
(c) An employee on a probationary or trial period
bears the burden of demonstrating why their
continuation in employment through the finalization of
their appointment to the Federal service is in the
public interest.
(d) In determining whether it is in the public
interest to finalize the appointment to the Federal
service of an employee in a probationary or trial
period, the agency head, or his or her designee, may
consider, in his or her sole and exclusive discretion:
(1) the employee's performance and conduct;
(2) the needs and interests of the agency;
(3) whether the employee's continued employment would advance
organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
(4) whether the employee's continued employment would advance the
efficiency of the service.
(e) Before an agency terminates the service of an
employee serving a probationary or trial period, it
shall notify such employee in writing as to the
effective date of the action.
(f) If an agency fails to make a certification
under Civil Service Rule 11.5 due to an administrative
error, the agency head may petition the Director of OPM
within 30 days from the date of termination to
reinstate the employee.
[[Page 17732]]
(g) This section shall not apply to an employee
serving a probationary period due to being promoted,
transferred, or otherwise assigned, for the first time,
to a supervisory or managerial position, unless such
employee is required to concurrently serve both a
probationary period in a supervisory or managerial
position and a probationary or trial period following
initial appointment or reinstatement under this Civil
Service Rule.
Sec. 11.6 Appeals
(a) The Director of OPM may by regulation prescribe
circumstances under and procedures by which employees
terminated from a probationary or trial period may
appeal such termination.
(b) Except as otherwise required by law, such
appeals shall be the sole and exclusive means of
appealing terminations during probationary or trial
periods.''
Sec. 4. Modifications to the Civil Service Regulations.
(a) This order supersedes subpart H of part 315 of
title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (Probation on
Initial Appointment to a Competitive Position), which
is hereby rendered inoperative and without effect. No
agency shall give force or effect to its provisions.
(b) The Director of OPM shall within 30 days of the
date of this order prepare and publish a rule
rescinding subpart H and making conforming amendments.
Sec. 5. Review During Probationary and Trial Periods.
(a) Within 15 days of the date of this order:
(i) The head of each executive department and agency (agency) shall
identify each employee at their agency serving an initial probationary or
trial period in the Federal service that ends 90 days or more from the date
of this order.
(ii) Each agency head shall designate in writing individuals at their
agency who shall be responsible for evaluating the continued employment of
employees serving an initial probationary or trial period in the Federal
service. Agency heads should limit such designations to those individuals
who can properly assess the needs and interests of the organization and
alignment with the organizational goals of the agency or the Federal
Government.
(b) At least 60 days prior to the end of each
employee's initial probationary or trial period,
individuals designated pursuant to subsection (a) of
this section shall, to the extent practicable, meet
with each employee serving an initial probationary or
trial period to discuss the employee's performance and
conduct (based in part on input from the employee's
supervisor), the needs of the agency, and whether the
employee's continued employment would advance the
public interest, the organizational goals of the
agency, and the efficiency of the service.
(c) Within 30 days of the end of each employee's
probationary or trial period, the agency head or an
individual designated by the agency head pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section, consistent with Civil
Service Rule XI and other applicable law, shall
determine whether to finalize the employee's
appointment to the Federal service, or whether to
terminate their service.
(d) Before finalizing an employee's appointment to
the Federal service at the conclusion of the
probationary or trial period, the agency head or an
individual designated by the agency head pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section must certify in writing
that such individual's continued employment will
advance the public interest.
Sec. 6. Effective Date. This order is effective
immediately, except that the requirements of sections
5(b) through 5(d) of this order and of Civil Service
Rule 11.5 shall become effective 90 days from the date
of this order.
Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
[[Page 17733]]
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(d) If any provision of this order, including any
of its applications, is held to be invalid, the
remainder of this order and all of its other
applications shall not be affected thereby.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 24, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-07469
Filed 4-28-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P