The MERIT Act of 2025 makes it significantly easier for federal agencies to fire or discipline employees for poor performance or misconduct. Here's what changes:

The bill speeds up the disciplinary process dramatically. Instead of lengthy procedures, agencies now have just 7 business days to let an employee respond to proposed discipline, and must issue a final decision within 15 business days. Agencies can also skip performance improvement plans entirely—they can move straight to firing or demotion without giving employees a chance to improve first. The standard for discipline is lowered to a "preponderance of the evidence" (basically, more likely than not), and agencies only need to consider a limited set of factors when deciding on discipline, like the seriousness of the offense and the employee's past record.

The bill also extends probationary periods for new federal employees from 1 year to 2 years, meaning it takes longer before employees get job protections. It creates new rules allowing agencies to furlough (temporarily lay off) employees more easily and for longer periods. Additionally, if a federal employee is convicted of a felony related to their job duties, their retirement benefits can be reduced or eliminated, even if they've already retired. Federal employees can still appeal disciplinary decisions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, but they only have 10 business days to do so instead of longer timeframes previously available.

Overall, this bill significantly reduces job security and due process protections for federal workers, making it faster and easier for agencies to remove employees from their positions.