When the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act was finalized, a two-year probationary period at the Department of Defense was unfortunately one of the casualties. FMA National President Craig Carter issued the following statement:

“While we are disappointed that the conference bill reduces the current two-year probationary period at DOD to a single year, we are overall supportive of passage for this critical bill. We are almost ten weeks into the fiscal year, and every additional day without the ability to adequately plan for the future hurts our military readiness.

“There is a lot to support in the FY 2022 NDAA. FMA supports the pay raise for the uniformed military, the extension for the authority to grant allowances, benefits, and gratuities to civilian employees on official duty in a combat zone, and many other policies. The NDAA is a must-pass bill, and FMA supports the overall bill.

“We are disappointed the conference report reverts the Department of Defense probationary period back to one year, beginning in 2023. In the FY2020 NDAA, Congress ordered a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of the current policy, which only took effect in 2016. The report has not been completed and Congress has not received the results of the study. We urged Congress to not take premature action, and to wait until it could make an evidence-based decision using actual data. Acting now makes zero sense.

“We expect the results of the study to be submitted to Congress in the coming weeks or months. In the spirit of the Biden administration’s promise in the President's Management Agenda to be guided by science and data on these decisions, we urge Congress to reconsider a two-year probationary period in the FY 2023 NDAA if the data supports it.”

FMA was one of the main voices on this issue, and our statement was picked up by multiple news outlets. Click here to read an article about it at FEDweek, and click here to read the coverage by the Federal News Network.