Reduction In Force

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Reduction In Force (RIF) regulations are derived from the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944 and are presently codified in Sections 3501-3503 of Title 5, United States Code. The law provides that OPM's RIF regulations must give effect to four factors in releasing employees: (1) tenure of employment (e.g., type of appointment); (2) veterans preference; (3) length of service; and (4) performance ratings. The law does not assign any relative weight to the four factors, or require that the factors be followed in any particular order. OPM implements the laws through regulations published in Part 351 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, and instructions in OPM's Downsizing Handbook.

Use of RIF Procedures

An agency is required to use the RIF procedures when an employee is faced with separation or downgrading for a reason such as reorganization, lack of work, shortage of funds, insufficient personnel ceiling, or the exercise of certain reemployment or restoration rights. A furlough of more than 30 calendar days, or of more than 22 discontinuous work days, is also a RIF action. (A furlough of 30 or fewer calendar days, or of 22 or fewer discontinuous work days, is an adverse action.)

Management Responsibility

The agency has the responsibility to decide whether a RIF is necessary, when it will take place, and what positions are abolished. However, the abolishment of a position does not always require the use of RIF procedures. The agency may reassign an employee without regard to RIF procedures to a vacant position at the same grade or pay, regardless of where the position is located.

Applying RIF Regulations

Competitive Area. First, the agency defines the competitive area (e.g., the geographical and organizational limits within which employees compete for retention). A competitive area may consist of all or part of an agency.

The minimum competitive area in the departmental service is a bureau, major command, directorate, or other equivalent major subdivision of an agency within a local commuting area. An agency must obtain approval from OPM before changing a competitive area within 90 days of a RIF.

Competitive Level. Next, the agency groups inter-changeable positions into competitive levels based upon similarity of grade, series, qualifications, duties and working conditions. Positions with different types of work schedules (e.g., full-time, part-time, intermittent, seasonal, or on-call) are placed in different competitive levels. Because of differences in duties and responsibilities, positions of supervisors and management officials are placed in competitive levels comprised only of those positions. Finally, competitive and excepted service positions are placed in separate competitive levels.

Retention Registers. Then, the four retention factors are applied and the competitive level becomes a retention register listing employees in the order of their retention standing:

• 1) Tenure. Employees are ranked on a retention register in three groups according to their types of appointment:
  • Group I Career employees who are not serving on probation. (A new supervisor or manager who is serving a probationary period that is required on initial appointment to that type of position is not considered to be serving on probation if the employee previously completed a probationary period.)
  • Group II Career employees who are serving a probationary period, and career-conditional employees.
  • Group III Employees serving under term and similar non-status appointments. (An employee serving under a temporary appointment in the competitive service is not a competing employee for RIF purposes and is not listed on the retention register.)
• 2) Veterans' Preference. Each of these groups is divided into three subgroups reflecting their entitlement to veterans preference:
  • Subgroup AD Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more.
  • Subgroup A Veterans not included in subgroup AD.
  • Subgroup B Nonveterans.

    A retired member of the armed forces is considered to be a veteran for RIF purposes only if one of the following conditions is met: (i) The armed forces retired pay is directly based upon a combat-incurred disability or injury; (ii) The armed forces retirement is based upon less than 20 years of active service; or (iii) The employee has been working for the Government since November 30, 1964, without a break in service of more than 30 days. (If the individual meets condition (iii) but retired at the rank of major or higher (or equivalent), he or she must also meet the general definition of disabled veteran in Section 2108(2) of Title 5, United States Code, in order to be a veteran for RIF purposes.)

• 3) Length of Service. Employees are ranked by service dates within each subgroup. The service dates include creditable civilian and military service, and additional service credit for certain performance ratings.
• 4) Performance. Employees receive extra RIF service credit for performance based upon the average of their last three annual performance ratings of record received during the 4-year period prior to the date the agency issues RIF notices. The 4-year period is the earlier of the date the agency issues RIF notices, or the date the agency freezes ratings before issuing RIF notices.

  An employee is given additional service credit based on the mathematical average (rounded in the case of a fraction to the next whole number) of the value of the employee's last three annual ratings. If an employee received more than three annual ratings during the 4-year period, the three most recent annual ratings are used. If an employee received fewer than three annual ratings during the 4-year period, credit is given for an assumed rating of "Fully Successful" to bring the employee's ratings up to three, regardless of the employee's actual length of service.

  Service credit is broken down by:

  • 20 Additional years for an "Outstanding" rating;
  • 16 Additional years for an "Exceeds Fully Successful" rating;
  • 12 Additional years for a "Fully Successful" rating.

  For example, an employee with two years of Federal service has one annual rating of "Outstanding" (20) and one of "Exceeds Fully Successful" (16). The employee would receive additional RIF service credit based upon the two actual ratings plus one assumed rating of "Fully Successful" (12), or 20+16+12=48, divided by 3=16 years of RIF credit for performance.

• 5) Release. Employees are released from the retention register in the inverse order of their retention standing (e.g., the employee with the lowest standing is the individual who is actually reached for a RIF action). All employees in Group III are released before employees in Group II, and all employees in Group II are released before employees in Group I. Then within subgroups, all employees in Subgroup B are released before employees in Subgroup A, and all employees in Subgroup A are released before employees in Subgroup AD. Any employee reached for release out of this regular order must be notified of the reasons.

Rights to Other Positions

Employees in Groups I and II with current performance ratings of "Unsuccessful," and all employees in Group III, have no assignment rights to other positions. Employees holding excepted service positions have no assignment rights unless their agencies, at its discretion, chooses to offer these rights.

Employees in Groups I and II with current performance ratings of at least "Minimally Successful" are entitled to an offer of assignment if they have "bumping" or "retreating" rights to an available position in the same competitive area. An "available" position must: (1) last at least 3 months; (2) be in the competitive service; (3) be one the released employee qualifies for; and (4) be within three grades (or grade-intervals) of the employee's present position.

Bumping.Means displacing an employee in the same competitive area who is in a lower tenure group, or in a lower subgroup within the released employee's own tenure group. Although the released employee must be qualified for the position, it may be a position that he or she has never held. The position must be at the same grade, or within three grades or grade-intervals, of the employee's present position.

Retreating.Means displacing an employee in the same competitive area who has less service within the released employee's own tenure group and subgroup. The position must be at the same grade, or within three grades or grade-intervals, of the employee's present position. However, an employee in retention subgroup AD has expanded retreat rights to positions up to five grades or grade-intervals lower than the position held by the released employee. The position into which the employee is retreating must also be the same position (or an essentially identical position) previously held by the released employee in any Federal agency on a permanent basis.

An employee with a current annual performance rating of "Minimally Successful" only has retreat rights to positions held by employees with the same or lower ratings.

Grade Intervals

The grade limits of an employee's assignment rights are determined by the grade progression of the position from which the employee is released. The difference between successive grades in a one-grade occupation is a grade difference, and the difference between successive grades in a multi-grade occupation is a grade-interval difference. The grade limits are based upon the position the employee holds at the time of the RIF. For example, an employee released from a GS-11 position that progresses GS-5-7-9-11 has bump and retreat rights to positions from GS-11 through GS-5. An employee released from a GS-9 position that progresses GS-6-7-8-9 has bump and retreat rights to positions from GS-9 through GS-6.

Use of Vacant Positions

An agency is not required to offer vacant positions in a RIF, but may choose to fill all, some, or none of them.

When an agency chooses to fill a vacancy with an employee reached for a RIF action, it must follow subgroup retention standing. A RIF offer of assignment to a vacant position can only be in the same competitive area, and must be within three grades (or grade-intervals) of the employee's present position. At its discretion, the agency may offer employees reassignment, or voluntary change to a lower-graded position, in other competitive areas in lieu of a RIF.

RIF Notices

An agency must give each employee at least 60 days specific written notice before he or she is reached for a RIF action. In a RIF by the Department of Defense in which 50 or more employees receive separation notices, the agency must give the employee a minimum of 120 days specific written notice. In unforeseeable circumstances, an agency may, with OPM approval, give an employee 30 rather than, as appropriate, 60 or 120 days specific written notice of a RIF action.

RIF Appeals and Grievances

Right to Appeal. An employee who has been separated, downgraded, or furloughed for more than 30 days by a RIF has the right to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) if he or she believes the agency did not properly follow the RIF regulations. The appeal must be filed during the 30-day period beginning the day after the effective date of the RIF action.

Right to Grieve. An employee in a bargaining unit covered by a negotiated grievance procedure that does not exclude a RIF must use the negotiated grievance procedure and may not appeal the RIF action to MSPB unless the employee alleges the action was based upon discrimination. The time limits for filing a grievance under a negotiated grievance procedure are set forth in the collective bargaining agreement.

Career Transition Assistance And Special Selection Priority

Competitive service employees in Groups I and II who have received a specific notice of separation by a RIF are eligible for placement assistance in finding other positions.

In July, 1995, President Clinton directed that Federal Executive agencies provide career transition assistance to their surplus and displaced employees. As a result of that directive, OPM issued career transition assistance regulations in December, 1995, which suspended the former Interagency Placement Program (IPP), and replaced it with a new Interagency Career Placement Program. Under this program, all surplus and displaced employees who work in Executive Branch agencies are eligible to receive career transition assistance from their agencies. They also may receive special selection priority for positions in their agency within the local commuting area for which they apply and are found well-qualified. Eligibility begins when the employee receives either a specific RIF notice of separation, or a more general notice that the employee is likely to be separated through RIF, or for declining a directed reassignment to another commuting area. Employees are entitled to see a copy of their agency's Career Transition Assistance Plan detailing the services available, and the special selection priority for which they may be eligible.

Once an employee receives a reduction in force separation notice, they also become eligible for interagency selection priority. This means that the employee can apply for a competitive service vacancy posted on the Federal Employment Information System (information on the System listed below), as long as it is in the same local commuting area, and the employee is found well-qualified, then he or she must be selected for that position. If there are two or more displaced employees who are well-qualified, the agency may choose among them. The eligibility for interagency special selection priority begins with the date the RIF notice is received, and extends one year from the date of separation. Unlike the former IPP, there are no registration procedures or centralized inventory from which referrals are made. The employee is responsible for identifying the positions for which interested, and applying directly to the agency for the vacancy.

Reemployment Priority List (RPL). The RPL is a post-RIF program that provides separated employees first opportunity for positions within their former agency that would otherwise be filled by their agency from outside the agency. Provided that the separated employee did not refuse a RIF offer of assignment to a position at the same grade, the separated Group I employee is placed on the RPL for 2 years; a separated Group II employee is placed on the list for 1 year.

Excepted service employees who are eligible for veterans' preference and who are separated by a RIF are eligible to have their names placed on a reemployment list that gives them future consideration for excepted positions filled by their former agency. Further information on the reemployment list for excepted employees is found in Part 302 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.

Department of Defense (DoD), Priority Placement Program (PPP). DoD administers an internal agency Priority Placement Program for its displaced employees. As this is an internal DoD program, information regarding the PPP may be obtained through an employee's local civilian personnel office or the appropriate DoD PPP Zone Coordinator. OPM does not have information on this program.

Transfer of Function

A Transfer of Function takes place when a function ceases in one competitive area and moves to one or more other competitive areas which do not perform the function at the time of transfer. The gaining competitive area may be in the same or a different agency. An employee who is identified with the transferring function has the right to transfer only if faced with separation or downgrading in the competitive area that is losing the function. The losing competitive area may use adverse action procedures to separate any employee who chooses not to transfer with his or her function. If the transfer of function results in a surplus of employees in the gaining competitive area, all employees who elected to transfer with the function compete under RIF regulations for positions in the gaining organization.

FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

As part of the President's initiative on providing transition assistance, the OPM developed the Federal Employment Information System to assist employees in their job search efforts. The System is accessible from a number of user friendly mediums.

INTERNET: The worldwide web site at www.usajobs.opm.gov provides access to the Federal Jobs Data base; full text job announcements; answers to frequently asked Federal employment questions via delivery of Employment Info Line fact sheets; and access to electronic and hard copy application forms.

FEDERAL JOB OPPORTUNITIES BOARD: Using a personal computer, call (912) 757-3100; or use Internet fjob.opm.gov for Telnet; or ftp.fjob.opm.gov for file Transfer Protocol. FJOB provides current worldwide Federal job opportunities, salaries and pay rates, general and specific employment information. Many of the jobs announced have full text job announcements that can be downloaded or viewed on-line.

CAREER AMERICA CONNECTION: (912) 757-3000, or TDD (912) 744-2299. This automated phone system provides 24 hour a day, 7 day a week information about current employment opportunities (nationwide and worldwide), special programs for students, veterans, and people with disabilities, the President Management Intern Program, salaries and benefits, and application request services. Complete vacancy announcements may be ordered by fax delivery during your phone call. For a listing of local CAC phone numbers use any of our other methods to request fact sheet "Federal Employment Information Sources," EI-42.

EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION "TOUCH SCREEN" COMPUTER KIOSKS: Located in OPM offices and some Federal office buildings in major cities throughout the nation. Complete vacancy announcements may be printed at time of use. For a listing of kiosk locations, use any of our other methods to request fact sheet "Federal Employment Information Sources," EI-42.

FEDFAX: Using a touch-tone telephone or fax machine you may request a variety of employment-related topics and forms to be faxed to you. Job listings and vacancy announcements are not offered on FedFax. The fax service is available at the following locations: Atlanta (404) 331-5267; Denver (303) 969-7764; Detroit (313) 226-2593; San Francisco (415) 744-7002; Washington, DC (202) 606-2600.

Information on what additional outplacement assistance is available to you can be obtained by contacting your servicing personnel office.

Federal Employment Info Line, EI-32, "Reduction In Force Benefits Guide," provides information on the benefits that are provided to employees who have been reached for reduction in force actions (RIF). This factsheet can be requested using any of the Federal Employment Information System mediums listed above.

AS OF: 01-22-98