# Plain Language Summary: COVID-19 Federal Employee Reinstatement Act

This bill addresses what happened to federal employees who left their jobs between September 2021 and January 2022 because of the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination mandate. It gives these workers two main options to make things right: they can either get their old job back with back pay, or they can receive a lump sum payment for the wages they lost while they were out of work.

If someone chooses to get reinstated to their old position, their former agency must hire them back into the same or a similar job and pay them everything they would have earned from September 2021 until the date they're rehired. If reinstatement isn't possible, the worker gets paid for six months of lost wages instead. For those who already found other federal jobs in the meantime, the bill calculates any pay difference between their old position and their new one and compensates them for that gap. These payments are treated as regular wages for tax purposes, and workers can receive them either as one lump sum or spread out over 12 monthly payments.

Beyond financial compensation, the bill also restores certain job protections and benefits. Affected employees are considered to have been involuntarily separated without cause, which matters for their employment record. For the next five years, they get priority consideration for federal job openings they're qualified for. The bill also addresses retirement benefits, allowing workers to regain pension credits they may have lost and ensuring their retirement contributions are properly credited to their accounts.

Federal agencies have 90 days after the bill becomes law to notify all affected employees of their rights, and workers have 90 days to decide whether they want reinstatement or payment. Agencies then have another 90 days to process these requests and begin making payments or rehiring people.

COVID–19 Federal Employee Reinstatement Act

Gaetz, Matt

COVID-19 Federal Employee Reinstatement Act This bill requires federal agencies to reinstate or compensate former employees who separated from the agency due to COVID-19 vaccination requirements during a certain period. Specifically, agencies must reinstate or compensate employees who voluntarily or involuntarily separated from the agency between September 9, 2021, and January 24, 2022, due to the COVID-19 vaccination requirements of Executive Order 14043. (The executive order required all federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A federal court blocked implementation of the order on January 21, 2022. An appellate court reinstated the order on April 7, 2022.) Employees may choose to be reinstated to their former position (or a comparable position) or to receive a payment that is commensurate with any lost pay during this time period. Employees who subsequently obtained a new federal position are entitled to payment that is commensurate with any difference in pay, if the new position pays less than the previous position. The bill also provides for the treatment of such payments or service with respect to taxes and retirement annuities, including allowing the months in which an employee was separated from service during this time period to count as qualifying service for purposes of retirement.