§14312 Delay of Promotion: Voluntary

Summary

A military department Secretary can make rules that let an officer who was recommended for promotion by a required or special selection board ask to delay that promotion for up to three years from the date they would otherwise be promoted. The officer must ask before a delay can be approved. If the Secretary denies the request, that denial alone is not treated as a failure to be selected for promotion unless the officer then refuses the promotion in the situations described below. If a delay is approved, the officer’s name stays on the promotion list during the delay. The officer can accept the promotion any time during the delay or when it ends, and the promotion takes effect on the day they accept it, following the rules the Secretary sets. For officers below colonel (or below captain in the Navy), their name will be removed and they will be treated as having failed selection if any of these happen: the Secretary has not allowed voluntary delays for that grade and the officer refuses the promotion; the Secretary allows delays but denied this officer’s request and the officer refuses the promotion; or the Secretary approved a delay and, when the delay ends, the officer refuses the promotion.