diff --git a/scripts/tests/policy-gates-test.sh b/scripts/tests/policy-gates-test.sh
index 86170e9d..71b38704 100755
--- a/scripts/tests/policy-gates-test.sh
+++ b/scripts/tests/policy-gates-test.sh
@@ -98,6 +98,27 @@ printf '%s\n' 'name: test' 'jobs: [' > "$invalid/.github/workflows/test.yml"
 git -C "$invalid" add .github/workflows/test.yml
 (cd "$invalid" && expect_fail "$workflow_gate")
 
+reusable_valid="$fixture/reusable-valid"
+init_fixture "$reusable_valid"
+mkdir -p "$reusable_valid/.github/workflows"
+printf '%s\n' 'name: reusable' 'on: push' 'jobs:' '  gate:' '    uses: owner/repo/.github/workflows/gate.yml@0123456789012345678901234567890123456789' > "$reusable_valid/.github/workflows/test.yml"
+git -C "$reusable_valid" add .github/workflows/test.yml
+(cd "$reusable_valid" && expect_pass "$workflow_gate")
+
+reusable_timeout="$fixture/reusable-timeout"
+init_fixture "$reusable_timeout"
+mkdir -p "$reusable_timeout/.github/workflows"
+printf '%s\n' 'name: reusable' 'on: push' 'jobs:' '  gate:' '    timeout-minutes: 10' '    uses: owner/repo/.github/workflows/gate.yml@0123456789012345678901234567890123456789' > "$reusable_timeout/.github/workflows/test.yml"
+git -C "$reusable_timeout" add .github/workflows/test.yml
+(cd "$reusable_timeout" && expect_fail "$workflow_gate")
+
+runner_timeout="$fixture/runner-timeout"
+init_fixture "$runner_timeout"
+mkdir -p "$runner_timeout/.github/workflows"
+printf '%s\n' 'name: runner' 'on: push' 'jobs:' '  test:' '    runs-on: ubuntu-latest' '    timeout-minutes: 10' '    steps:' '      - run: true' > "$runner_timeout/.github/workflows/test.yml"
+git -C "$runner_timeout" add .github/workflows/test.yml
+(cd "$runner_timeout" && expect_pass "$workflow_gate")
+
 control="$fixture/control"
 init_fixture "$control"
 mkdir -p "$control/.github/workflows"
diff --git a/tools/policy/check-workflows-parse.sh b/tools/policy/check-workflows-parse.sh
index fcf18829..5d99eae5 100755
--- a/tools/policy/check-workflows-parse.sh
+++ b/tools/policy/check-workflows-parse.sh
@@ -38,6 +38,23 @@ parse_ok() {
   esac
 }
 
+# GitHub rejects a reusable-workflow call job before creating any jobs when it
+# contains step-job-only keys such as timeout-minutes. The file remains valid
+# YAML, so the parser gate alone cannot see this zero-check failure mode.
+has_reusable_timeout() {
+  case "$parser" in
+    yq)
+      yq -e '[.jobs[] | select(has("uses") and has("timeout-minutes"))] | length > 0' "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1
+      ;;
+    python)
+      python3 -c 'import sys,yaml; d=yaml.safe_load(open(sys.argv[1], encoding="utf-8")) or {}; sys.exit(not any(isinstance(j,dict) and "uses" in j and "timeout-minutes" in j for j in (d.get("jobs") or {}).values()))' "$1"
+      ;;
+    ruby)
+      ruby -ryaml -e 'd=YAML.safe_load(File.read(ARGV[0]), aliases: true) || {}; jobs=d["jobs"] || {}; exit(jobs.values.any? { |j| j.is_a?(Hash) && j.key?("uses") && j.key?("timeout-minutes") } ? 0 : 1)' "$1"
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
+
 has_forbidden_control() {
   od -An -v -tu1 "$1" | awk '
     { for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) if (($i < 9) || ($i > 10 && $i < 13) || ($i > 13 && $i < 32)) found=1 }
@@ -54,6 +71,9 @@ for file in "${workflows[@]}"; do
     if has_forbidden_control "$file"; then
       echo '    contains a YAML-forbidden control character'
     fi
+  elif has_reusable_timeout "$file"; then
+    status=1
+    printf '%s\n' "::error file=$file::a reusable-workflow call job cannot declare timeout-minutes; GitHub rejects it before creating any jobs"
   fi
 done