(a) Employees who are in a retained grade must have the experience they gain subsequent to the downgrading action that placed them in a retained grade considered in the following manner. For placements during the period the employee is in a retained grade, agencies must consider the experience subsequent to the downgrading action to be either:

(1) At the level of the retained grade and in the series of the position which he or she occupied at the time of the downgrading; or

(2) At the grade and in the series of the position to which the employee is downgraded.

(b) Agencies must determine which experience to consider on the basis of which will most likely result in placement. For placements or promotions after the retained grade period, the experience is considered only at the grade level and in the series of the position to which the employee was downgraded.

[45 FR 18365, Mar. 21, 1980]