5 CFR § 536.201 - Mandatory grade retention.
(a) Subject to the requirements in this section and in §§ 536.102 and 536.203, an agency must provide grade retention to an employee who moves from a position under a covered pay system to a lower-graded position under a covered pay system as a result of—
(1) Reduction in force procedures, or
(2) A reclassification process.
(b) An agency must apply § 536.105 in determining whether a position under a different covered pay system is a lower-graded position.
(c) An employee's movement to a lower-graded position is considered to be the result of reduction in force procedures when the employee has received a specific reduction in force notice and—
(1) The employee is placed in the position offered in the notice; or
(2) The employee is placed in a position other than that offered in the notice but in the same agency, if the position was offered in writing and at the initiative of management.
(d) An employee's movement to a lower-graded position is considered to be the result of a reclassification process when—
(1) The employee remains in his or her position after it is reclassified; or
(2) The employee is placed in a different position in the same agency before the effective date of the reclassification action, if the position was offered in writing and at the initiative of management after the employee received a specific written notice that the position would be reclassified to a lower grade.