C.F.R. » Title 5 » CHAPTER I—OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT › SUBCHAPTER B—CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS › PART 752—ADVERSE ACTIONS › Subpart D—Regulatory Requirements for Removal, Suspension for More Than 14 Days, Reduction in Grade or Pay, or Furlough for 30 Days or Less

5 C.F.R. § 752.401

Coverage

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(a) Adverse actions covered. This subpart applies to the following actions:

(1) Removals;

(2) Suspensions for more than 14 days, including indefinite suspensions;

(3) Reductions in grade;

(4) Reductions in pay; and

(5) Furloughs of 30 days or less.

(b) Actions excluded. This subpart does not apply to:

(1) An action imposed by the Merit Systems Protection Board under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 1215;

(2) The reduction in grade of a supervisor or manager who has not completed the probationary period under 5 U.S.C. 3321(a)(2) if such a reduction is to the grade held immediately before becoming a supervisor or manager;

(3) A reduction-in-force action under 5 U.S.C. 3502;

(4) A reduction in grade or removal under 5 U.S.C. 4303;

(5) An action against an administrative law judge under 5 U.S.C. 7521;

(6) A suspension or removal under 5 U.S.C. 7532;

(7) Actions taken under any other provision of law which excepts the action from subchapter II of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code;

(8) Action that entitles an employee to grade retention under part 536 of this chapter, and an action to terminate this entitlement;

(9) A voluntary action by the employee;

(10) Action taken or directed by the Office of Personnel Management under part 731 of this chapter;

(11) Termination of appointment on the expiration date specified as a basic condition of employment at the time the appointment was made;

(12) Action that terminates a temporary or term promotion and returns the employee to the position from which temporarily promoted, or to a different position of equivalent grade and pay, if the agency informed the employee that it was to be of limited duration;

(13) Cancellation of a promotion to a position not classified prior to the promotion;

(14) Placement of an employee serving on an intermittent or seasonal basis in a temporary nonduty, nonpay status in accordance with conditions established at the time of appointment;

(15) Reduction of an employee's rate of basic pay from a rate that is contrary to law or regulation, including a reduction necessary to comply with the amendments made by Public Law 108-411, regarding pay-setting under the General Schedule and Federal Wage System and regulations in this subchapter implementing those amendments;

(16) An action taken under 5 U.S.C. 7515.; or

(17) An action taken against a technician in the National Guard concerning any activity under 32 U.S.C. 709(f)(4), except as provided by 32 U.S.C. 709(f)(5).

(c) Employees covered. This subpart covers:

(1) A career or career conditional employee in the competitive service who is not serving a probationary or trial period;

(2) An employee in the competitive service—

(i) Who is not serving a probationary or trial period under an initial appointment; or

(ii) Who has completed 1 year of current continuous service under other than a temporary appointment limited to 1 year or less;

(3) An employee in the excepted service who is a preference eligible in an Executive agency as defined at section 105 of title 5, United States Code, the U.S. Postal Service, or the Postal Regulatory Commission and who has completed 1 year of current continuous service in the same or similar positions;

(4) A Postal Service employee covered by Public Law 100-90 who has completed 1 year of current continuous service in the same or similar positions and who is either a supervisory or management employee or an employee engaged in personnel work in other than a purely nonconfidential clerical capacity;

(5) An employee in the excepted service who is a nonpreference eligible in an Executive agency as defined at 5 U.S.C. 105, and who has completed 2 years of current continuous service in the same or similar positions under other than a temporary appointment limited to 2 years or less;

(6) An employee with competitive status who occupies a position in Schedule B of part 213 of this chapter;

(7) An employee who was in the competitive service at the time his or her position was first listed under Schedule A or B of the excepted service and who still occupies that position;

(8) An employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs appointed under 38 U.S.C. 7401(3); and

(9) An employee of the Government Publishing Office.

(d) Employees excluded. This subpart does not apply to:

(1) An employee whose appointment is made by and with the advice and consent of the Senate;

(2) An employee whose position is in Schedule C or Schedule Policy/Career.

(3) A Presidential appointee;

(4) A reemployed annuitant;

(5) A Foreign Service member as described in section 103 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980;

(6) An employee of the Central Intelligence Agency or the Government Accountability Office;

(7) An employee of the Veterans Health Administration (Department of Veterans Affairs) in a position which has been excluded from the competitive service by or under a provision of title 38, United States Code, unless the employee was appointed to the position under section 7401(3) of title 38, United States Code;

(8) A nonpreference eligible employee with the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Panama Canal Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, or any other intelligence component of the Department of Defense (as defined in section 1614 of title 10, United States Code), or an intelligence activity of a military department covered under subchapter I of chapter 83 of title 10, United States Code;

(9) An employee described in section 5102(c)(11) of title 5, United States Code, who is an alien or noncitizen occupying a position outside the United States;

(10) A nonpreference eligible employee serving a probationary or trial period under an initial appointment in the excepted service pending conversion to the competitive service, unless he or she meets the requirements of paragraph (c)(5) of this section;

(11) An employee whose agency or position has been excluded from the appointing provisions of title 5, United States Code, by separate statutory authority in the absence of any provision to place the employee within the coverage of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code; and

(12) An employee in the competitive service serving a probationary or trial period, unless he or she meets the requirements of paragraph (c)(2) of this section.

[74 FR 63532, Dec. 4, 2009, as amended at 85 FR 65986, Oct. 16, 2020; 87 FR 67783, Nov. 10, 2022; 89 FR 25048, Apr. 9, 2024; 91 FR 5657, Feb. 6, 2026]
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 118 cases (34 in the last 5 years), 1971–2026 · leading case: Nat'l Treasury Employees Union v. United States Merit Sys. Prot. Bd. & United States Off. of Pers. Mgmt., 743 F.2d 895 (D.C. Cir. 1984).
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Nat'l Treasury Employees Union v. United States Merit Sys. Prot. Bd. & United States Off. of Pers. Mgmt., 743 F.2d 895 (D.C. Cir. 1984). · cites it 5× “§§ 7511 (a)(5) and 7513 and that 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (c)(10) was valid on its face.”
Van Wersch v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 197 F.3d 1144 (Fed. Cir. 1999). · cites it 3× “OPM’s current regulations, found at 5 C.F.R § 752.401, are consistent with this approach.”
Ward v. United States Postal Serv., 634 F.3d 1274 (Fed. Cir. 2011). “280 ; 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (c). As such, it is a procedural error, in violation of 5 C.”
James B. King, Dir., Off. of Pers. Mgmt. v. Ethel D. Briggs, & Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 83 F.3d 1384 (Fed. Cir. 1996). · cites it 2× “Specifically, according to 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (d)(12), the definition of “employee” found at section 7511(a) does not extend to “[a]n employee whose agency or position has been excluded from the appointing provisions of title 5, United States Code, by separate statutory…”
Bridgett L. Burgess v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 758 F.2d 641 (Fed. Cir. 1985). “5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (c)(3). The board knew, however, from precedents cited by it, that Burgess would have an appealable action and thus the right to a hearing under 5 U.”
Elias Covington v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 750 F.2d 937 (Fed. Cir. 1984). “5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (c)(3) (1984). To determine whether a retirement is voluntary, a court must examine “the surrounding circumstances to test the abili *942 ty of the employee to exercise free choice”.”
Peggy A. Knight v. Dep't of Def., 332 F.3d 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2003). · cites it 3× “However, the AJ held that the Board did have jurisdiction over the appeal as a reduction-in-grade action under 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 , but on the merits determined that Knight was not entitled to grade retention.”
Harvey M. Scharf v. Dep't of the Air Force, 710 F.2d 1572 (Fed. Cir. 1983). “V 1981); 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (c)(3) (1982). For the reasons that follow, we reverse the decision of the MSPB.”
Perry v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 829 F.3d 760 (D.C. Cir. 2016). “§ 7512 (l)-(5); 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (b)(9); Garcia v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec.”
Cheney v. Dep't of Just., 479 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. 2007). “1985) (indefinite suspension is a covered action); 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 . When an employee is the subject of an action under section 7513, he or she is entitled to (1) at least 30 days’ advance written notice, unless there is reasonable cause to believe the employee has committed…”
Kenneth Erdel v. Dep't of the Army, 2023 MSPB 27 (MSPB 2023). · cites it 2× “5 C.F.R. § 752.401 ; see 87 Fed. Reg. 67765 , 67779, 67783 (Nov.”
Carrow v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 564 F.3d 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2009). · cites it 2× “” 5 C.F.R. § 752.401 (c)(5) (2007). In the notice of proposed rulemaking for those regulations, OPM stated that “the statute allows employees credit for service from more than one agency.”
Show all 118 citing cases →
— 5 C.F.R. § 752.401(a) — 1 case
Levy v. United States, 231 Ct. Cl. 745 (Ct. Cl. 1982).
— 5 C.F.R. § 752.401(b) — 1 case
Massman v. Sec'y of Hous. & Urban Dev., 332 F. Supp. 894 (D.D.C. 1971).
— 5 C.F.R. § 752.401(b)(14) — 1 case
Angela Conaway v. Dep't of Com. (MSPB 2022).
— 5 C.F.R. § 752.401(c)(3) — 1 case
Wall v. United States, Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 637 F. Supp. 90 (D. Kan. 1986).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.