5 U.S.C. § 3595: Reduction in force in the Senior Executive Service

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. This subsection applies to any career appointee who has successfully completed the probationary period prescribed under section 3393(d) of this title . 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. 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 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. 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). 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). 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). 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. 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. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [ Oct. 15, 1982 ]. The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to an individual who is a career appointee on or after September 30, 1982 , except that any individual who is a career appointee on September 30, 1982 , and who is described in section 3595(b)(3) of title 5 , United States Code, may not be removed before December 15, 1982 , due to a reduction in force, unless the removal is under section 3595(b)(4)(A) of such title on the grounds the individual declined a reasonable placement offer.” Subject to paragraph (2), the amendments made by this section [enacting this section, redesignating former section 3595 as section 3596 of this title , and amending sections 3393, 3593, 7542, and 7543 of this title] shall be effective as of June 1, 1981 . Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the amendments made by this section shall apply to any career appointee removed from the civil service after May 31, 1981 , and before the date of the enactment of this section [ Aug. 13, 1981 ] if, not later than 14 days after such date of enactment, application therefor is made to the Office of Personnel Management and to the head of the Agency in which the appointee was employed. The provisions of section 3595(a), as added by subsection (a)(1), shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [ Aug. 13, 1981 ]. The effectiveness of the amendments made by this section shall be subject to section 415(b) of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 [ Pub. L. 95–454, title IV , Oct. 13, 1978 , 92 Stat. 1154 ] ( 5 U.S.C. 3131 note) to the same extent and manner as the amendments made by title IV of that Act.”