(a) Each agency shall establish a system processing an employee's application for review of the correctness of the series, grade or title of the employee's job.

(b) In establishing the system required by this subpart, an agency, as a minimum, shall provide that the following requisites be met.

(1) The provisions of the system shall be published and the agency's employees shall be informed where a published copy is available for review.

(2) An application shall be in writing and contain the reasons the employee believes the position is erroneously graded.

(3) An application may be filed at any time. However, when the application involves a downgrading or other job-grading action which resulted in a reduction in grade or loss or pay, in order to be entitled to retroactive corrective action, an employee must request a review under the provisions of this subpart within 15 calendar days of the effective date of the change to lower grade.

(4) An employee may select a representative, and the employee and the representative, when the representative is also employed by the same agency, shall be granted a reasonable time in presenting the application and shall be assured freedom from restraint, interference, coercion, or reprisal in presenting the application.

(5) An employee shall promptly furnish such facts as may be requested by the agency.

(6) An application shall be canceled and the employee so notified in the following circumstances:

(i) On receipt of a written request by the employee;

(ii) Failure of the employee to furnish required information or otherwise fail to proceed with the advancement of his application in a timely manner; however, instead of cancellation for failure by the employee to prosecute, the application may be adjudicated by the agency if the information is sufficient for that purpose; or

(iii) On notice that the employee has left the job, except when the employee would be entitled to the retroactive benefits including benefits allowable after the death of an employee appellant.

(7) The application shall be processed and decided promptly. No more than one level of review may be established within an agency before a final decision is issued, and that level of review, when possible, must be above the level of classification authority which classified the position.

(8) When an employee applies for a review of a downgrading or other job-grading action that resulted in a reduction of pay, and the decision of an agency reverses in whole or in part the downgrading or other job-grading action, the effective date of that decision shall be retroactive to the effective date of the action being reviewed when the initial application to the agency was submitted in accordance with paragraph (b)(3) of this section. However, when the agency decision raises the grade or level of the job above its grade or level immediately preceding the downgrading, retroactivity shall apply only to the extent of restoration to the grade or level immediately preceding the downgrading.

(9) The right to a retroactive effective date is preserved when an agency finds that an employee was not notified of the applicable time limit for review and was not otherwise aware of the limit or that circumstances beyond the employee's control prevented filing the application within the prescribed time limit.

(10) The effective date of a change in the series, title or grade of a job shall be specified in the agency decision and, unless otherwise required by this subpart, may not be earlier than the date of the decision. However, in no case may it be later than the beginning of the first pay period which begins after the 60th calendar day from the date the application was filed. However, when the agency decision will result in a downgrading or other job-grading action that will reduce the pay of the incumbent of the job, the effective date may not be set earlier than the date on which the decision can be effected in accordance with procedures required by applicable law and regulation. The retroactive reclassification may be based only on duties and responsibilities existing at the time of downgrading or loss of pay and not on duties and responsibilities later assigned.

(11) When an application has been properly filed and the employee dies before the application has been processed, if a favorable decision would entitle the employee to retroactive corrective action, the application will be processed to completion after the employee's death and any appropriate corrective action made by amending the records of the agency.

(12) The decision on an application shall:

(i) Be based on the record,

(ii) Be in writing,

(iii) Inform the employee either in the decision or as an attachment to the decision of the reasons for the decision, including an analysis of the employee's job, i.e., comparing the job with the appropriate standard, and

(iv) Inform the employee of the right to appeal the decision to the Office of Personnel Management and of the time limits within which the application must be filed.

(c) The agency is responsible for compiling and maintaining a job-grading review file which will constitute the record and which will not contain any document or information which the employee has not been given an opportunity to review.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 51 FR 18561, May 21, 1986]