United States Code (Last Updated: May 24, 2014) |
Title 5. GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES |
Part III. EMPLOYEES |
SubPart B. Employment and Retention |
Chapter 35. RETENTION PREFERENCE, VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS, RESTORATION, AND REEMPLOYMENT |
SubChapter V. REMOVAL, REINSTATEMENT, AND GUARANTEED PLACEMENT IN THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE |
§ 3595. Reduction in force in the Senior Executive Service
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(a) An agency shall establish competitive procedures for determining who shall be removed from the Senior Executive Service in any reduction in force of career appointees within that agency. The competitive procedures shall be designed to assure that such determinations are primarily on the basis of performance, as determined under subchapter II of chapter 43 of this title. (b) (1) This subsection applies to any career appointee who has successfully completed the probationary period prescribed under section 3393(d) of this title. (2) Except as provided in paragraphs (4) and (5), a career appointee may not be removed from the Senior Executive Service due to a reduction in force within an agency. (3) A career appointee who, but for this subsection, would be removed from the Senior Executive Service due to a reduction in force within an agency— (A) is entitled to be assigned by the head of that agency to a vacant Senior Executive Service position for which the career appointee is qualified; or (B) if the agency head certifies, in writing, to the Office of Personnel Management that no such position is available in the agency, shall be placed by the Office in any agency in any vacant Senior Executive Service position unless the head of that agency determines that the career appointee is not qualified for that position. The Office of Personnel Management shall take all reasonable steps to place a career appointee under subparagraph (B) and may require any agency to take any action which the Office considers necessary to carry out any such placement. (4) A career appointee who is not assigned under paragraph (3)(A) may be removed from the Senior Executive Service due to a reduction in force if the career appointee declines a reasonable offer for placement in a Senior Executive Service position under paragraph (3)(B). (5) A career appointee who is not assigned under paragraph (3)(A) may be removed from the Senior Executive Service due to a reduction in force if the career appointee is not placed in another Senior Executive Service position under paragraph (3)(B) within 45 days after the Office receives certification regarding that appointee under paragraph (3)(B). (c) A career appointee is entitled to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board under section 7701 of this title whether the reduction in force complies with the competitive procedures required under subsection (a). (d) For purposes of this section, “reduction in force” includes the elimination or modification of a position due to a reorganization, due to a lack of funds or curtailment of work, or due to any other factor. (e) The Office shall prescribe regulations under which the rights accorded to a career appointee in the event of a transfer of function are comparable to the rights accorded to a competing employee under section 3503 of this title in the event of such a transfer.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 3595, added Pub. L. 95–454, title IV, § 404(b),
Amendments
1984—Subsec. (b)(3)(B). Pub. L. 98–615, § 303(c)(1), struck out the designation “(i)” before provisions relating to placement in any agency in any vacant Executive Service position, and struck out former cl. (ii), which had related to detailing by the Office of Personnel Management to any vacant Senior Executive Service position for which the Office deemed the employee to be qualified in any agency for a period not to exceed 60 days, and placement in such position by the Office after the period of such detail, unless the head of the agency determined that the career appointee was not qualified for such position.
Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 98–615, § 303(c)(2), struck out “and the civil service” after “removed from the Senior Executive Service”, struck out the designation “(A)” before “the career appointee declines”, and substituted a period for the semicolon and “or” at the end thereof. Former subpar. (B) redesignated par. (5).
Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 98–615, § 303(c)(2), redesignated former par. (4)(B) as (5), substituted “A career appointee who is not assigned under paragraph (3)(A) may be removed from the Senior Executive Service due to a reduction in force if” for “subject to paragraph (5),”, substituted “45 days” for “120 days”, and struck out former par. (5), which had provided that persons who were career appointees as of
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–615, § 303(d), struck out the designation “(1)” before “whether the reduction”, and struck out pars. (2) and (3), which had provided, respectively, the right to appeal any removal under subsec. (b)(4)(A) and the right to appeal any nonappointment under subsec. (b)(3), and, in the event of such nonappointment, whether the Office of Personnel Management took all reasonable steps to achieve such placement and whether the agency correctly decided under subsec. (b)(3)(B) that the career appointee was not qualified for such placement.
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 98–615, § 304(b), added subsec. (e).
1982—Subsec. (b)(3)(B). Pub. L. 97–346, § 5(a), designated as cl. (i) existing provisions relating to placement in any agency in any vacant Executive Service position, and added cl. (ii).
Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 97–346, § 5(b), designated as subpar. (A) existing provisions relating to taking of all reasonable steps by Office of Personnel Management, and added subpar. (B).
Effective Date Of Amendment
Amendment by section 303(c), (d) of Pub. L. 98–615 effective following expiration of 90-day period beginning on
Pub. L. 97–346, § 5(c),
Effective Date
Pub. L. 97–35, title XVII, § 1704(e),