5 CFR §351.502

1. (a)Competing employees shall be classified on a retention register in tenure groups on the basis of their tenure of employment, veteran preference, length of service, and performance in descending order as set forth under § 351.501(a) for competing employees in the competitive service.
2. (b)Groups are defined as follows:
   1. (1)Group I includes each permanent employee whose appointment carries no restriction or condition such as conditional, indefinite, specific time limit, or trial period.
   2. (2)Group II includes each employee:
      1. (i)Serving a trial period; or
      2. (ii)Whose tenure is equivalent to a career-conditional appointment in the competitive service in agencies having such excepted appointments.
   3. (3)Group III includes each employee:
      1. (i)Whose tenure is indefinite (i.e., without specific time limit), but not actually or potentially permanent;
      2. (ii)Whose appointment has a specific time limitation of more than 1 year; or
      3. (iii)Who is currently employed under a temporary appointment limited to 1 year or less, but who has completed 1 year of current continuous service under a temporary appointment with no break in service of 1 workday or more.