REHIRE Act

Summary#

The REHIRE Act gives certain career federal employees who were involuntarily removed from the civil service between January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2027, a hiring preference when applying for competitive service jobs. Those covered would be treated as "preference eligible" and receive 5 additional points above their earned rating for appointments under section 3309 of title 5, United States Code. The bill does not apply to people removed from political positions, people removed for clearly documented misconduct or delinquency, or people whose most recent performance review before removal was unacceptable or less than fully successful (if that review is clearly documented). The authority in the bill expires 5 years after the bill becomes law. The bill text also includes definitions for terms such as civil service, competitive service, political position, and preference eligible by citing existing law.

What it means for you#

• If you are a career federal employee involuntarily removed during the covered dates and you are not excluded by the bill, you would be treated as a preference eligible candidate and get 5 extra points on ratings when applying for competitive service positions.
• If you were removed for misconduct, held a political position, or had a documented poor performance review before removal, the protections in this bill would not apply to you.
• The hiring preference created by the bill would end when the authority expires (5 years after enactment).

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

The bill's title and text show it is meant to restore employment and hiring incentives by giving certain removed career federal employees preference and extra points when applying for competitive service positions during a specified removal period.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.