Title 5 — Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73
§3595 Reduction in force in the Senior Executive Service
Title 5 › Part PART III— - EMPLOYEES › Subpart Subpart B— - Employment and Retention › Chapter CHAPTER 35— - RETENTION PREFERENCE, VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS, RESTORATION, AND REEMPLOYMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER V— - REMOVAL, REINSTATEMENT, AND GUARANTEED PLACEMENT IN THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE › § 3595
Summary
Agencies must set up fair, competitive rules to decide who in the Senior Executive Service (SES) will be removed during a reduction in force. Those rules must base decisions mainly on performance, as measured under subchapter II of chapter 43 of this title. If a career appointee has finished the probation required by section 3393(d), they generally cannot be removed from the SES for a reduction in force. If they would be removed, the agency must put them in any vacant SES job they are qualified for. If no job exists and the agency certifies that in writing to the Office, the Office must place them in a vacancy at another agency unless that agency finds them unqualified. If the appointee refuses a reasonable placement offer or is not placed within 45 days after the Office gets the agency’s certification, the appointee may be removed. The appointee can appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board under section 7701 whether the agency followed the competitive rules. “Reduction in force” means cutting or changing a job because of reorganization, lack of funds or work, or any other reason. The Office must write rules so transfer-of-function rights for career appointees are similar to the rights in section 3503 of this title.
Full Legal Text
Title 5, §3595
Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(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.
(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.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
A prior section 3595, added Pub. L. 95–454, title IV, § 404(b), Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1167, which related to prescribing
Regulations
, was renumbered section 3596 by Pub. L. 97–35, title XVII, § 1704(a)(1), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 756.
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 May 31, 1981, could only be removed from the Senior Executive Service and the civil service due to a reduction in force after the 120-day period if the Director of the Office of Personnel Management certified to certain Congressional committees that the Office had taken all reasonable steps to place the appointee but had been unable to do so due to the appointee’s highly specialized skills and experience. 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).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1984 AmendmentAmendment by section 303(c), (d) of Pub. L. 98–615 effective following expiration of 90-day period beginning on Nov. 8, 1984, and amendment by section 304(b) of Pub. L. 98–615 effective Nov. 8, 1984, see section 307 of Pub. L. 98–615, set out as a note under section 3393 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1982 Amendment Pub. L. 97–346, § 5(c), Oct. 15, 1982, 96 Stat. 1650, provided that: “(1) 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]. “(2) 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.”
Effective Date
Pub. L. 97–35, title XVII, § 1704(e), Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 758, provided that: “(1) 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 section 3393, 3593, 7542, and 7543 of this title] shall be effective as of June 1, 1981. “(2)(A) 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. “(B) 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]. “(3) 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.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
5 U.S.C. § 3595
Title 5 — Government Organization and Employees
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73