5 C.F.R. § 351.202

(a) Employees covered. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this part applies to each civilian employee in:

(1) The executive branch of the Federal Government; and

(2) Those parts of the Federal Government outside the executive branch which are subject by statute to competitive service requirements or are determined by the appropriate legislative or judicial administrative body to be covered hereunder. Coverage includes administrative law judges except as modified by part 930 of this chapter.

(b) Employees exempted. This part does not apply to an employee:

(1) In a position in the Senior Executive Service; or

(2) Whose appointment is required by Congress to be confirmed by, or made with the advice and consent of, the United States Senate, except a postmaster.

(c) Actions exempted. This part does not apply to:

(1) The termination of a temporary or term promotion or the return of an employee to the position held before the temporary or term promotion or to one of equivalent grade and pay.

(2) A change to lower grade based on the reclassification of an employee's position due to the application of new classification standards or the correction of a classification error.

(3) A change to lower grade based on reclassification of an employee's position due to erosion of duties, except that an agency shall not undertake such a reclassification action between the time an agency has formally announced a reduction in force in the employee's competitive area and the completion of the reduction in force where the reclassification action would adversely affect an employee's retention standing in the announced reduction in force.

(4) The change of an employee from regular to substitute in the same pay level in the U.S. Postal Service field service.

(5) The release from a competitive level of a National Guard technician under section 709 of title 32, United States Code.

(6) Placement of an employee serving on an intermittent, part-time, on-call, or seasonal basis in a nonpay and nonduty status in accordance with conditions established at time of appointment.

(7) A change in an employee's work schedule from other-than-full-time to full-time. (A change from full-time to other than full-time for a reason covered in § 351.201(A)(2) is covered by this part.)

(d) Employees excluded from reduction in force competition. An employee holding one of the following appointments is not a “competing employee” for purposes of a reduction in force:

(1) In the excepted service:

(i) An employee serving under a temporary or time-limited appointment limited to one (1) year or less;

(ii) An employee serving a trial period;

(iii) An employee serving under a Schedule C appointment; and

(iv) An employee serving under a Schedule G appointment.

(2) In the competitive service:

(i) An employee serving under an indefinite appointment who is serving an initial probationary period;

(ii) A career-conditional employee serving an initial probationary period; and

(iii) An employee serving under a temporary appointment of one (1) year or less under subpart D of part 316 of this chapter.

(3) An employee holding one of these appointments is not a “competing employee” for purposes of a reduction in force. An agency may retain such an employee while releasing a competing employee, and may furlough, separate, demote, or reassign such an employee for a reason described in § 351.201(a)(2) without determining the employee's retention standing under subparts D and E of this part, applying the order-of-release provisions in subpart F of this part, or providing assignment rights under subpart G of this part, provided the action is otherwise consistent with the terms of the employee's appointment and applicable law.

(4) If an agency furloughs for more than 30 days, separates, demotes, or reassigns an employee described in paragraph (d)(1) or (2) of this section for a reason described in § 351.201(a)(2), and the action is not merely the expiration of a temporary or time-limited appointment according to its terms, the agency must provide written notice under § 351.801. The notice must include notification content in accordance with § 351.802(a)(1), (a)(3), (a)(5), (a)(6) and (b), and must state that the employee is not a competing employee under this paragraph and therefore was not ranked relative to competing employees on a retention register. The notice is not required to include the information described in § 351.802(a)(2) or (a)(4).