§3352 Preference in transfers for employees making certain disclosures

Summary

Agency heads may give a worker a special chance to transfer into a job that has the same status and tenure as the worker’s current job if three things are true: the worker meets the job’s qualifications, the worker can be appointed to the job, and the Merit Systems Protection Board finds that the worker was the victim of a prohibited personnel action under section 2302(b)(8). The worker can apply for such a transfer in their own agency or in another Executive agency. If the hiring official turns down the transfer, they must give the worker written reasons within 30 days. The worker can ask the agency head to review that denial within 30 days of getting the reasons. The agency head must finish the review and send written findings to the worker and the Merit Systems Protection Board within 30 days of the request. The transfer preference can be used only once, only for a move from or within the agency the worker was in when the Board made its finding, and only within 18 months after that finding. No transfer preference can override the rights of a “preference eligible” who is applying for the same job.