# Plain Language Summary: EQUALS Act of 2025

This bill makes it significantly harder for federal government employees to keep their jobs during their first years of employment. Currently, most new federal employees have a one-year probationary period before their job becomes permanent. This bill extends that to two years for most new hires, while keeping it at one year only for military veterans and certain other preference-eligible groups. The key change is that after the probationary period ends, employees are automatically fired unless their agency specifically certifies in writing that keeping them would serve "the public interest." This flips the current system, where employees automatically become permanent unless there's a specific reason to fire them.

During the probationary period, agencies get broad discretion to decide whether an employee's "continued employment advances the public interest." They can consider performance, conduct, agency needs, organizational goals, and efficiency—giving managers significant power to terminate employees for reasons that go beyond traditional performance issues. The bill also extends probationary periods for positions requiring formal training or licenses, meaning the clock doesn't start until after training is complete or a license is obtained. This could add years to someone's probationary status in fields like nursing, engineering, or law.

The bill creates similar two-year trial periods for employees in the "excepted service" (certain specialized government positions outside the normal competitive hiring system), and it extends these new rules to the Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration. Additionally, it changes the rules for firing employees based on poor performance, requiring two years of continuous employment before an employee gets full job protections—again, except for veterans and preference-eligible groups who only need one year. These changes take effect one year after the bill is enacted and apply only to people hired after that date.