This Directive was canceled August 4, 2004.

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

June 28, 1996

Chapter 3: Assignment and Utilization of Employees
Section 5: Reemployment Rights, Return Rights, and Placement Consideration Programs

Par.

1. Purpose

2. Placement Rights Based on Statute or Regulation

3. Priority Consideration Program Based on Statute or Regulation--Grade/Pay Retention Eligibles

4. Concurrent Consideration

5. Relative Priorities of Programs

6. Department of Transportation (DOT) Reemployment Priority List

1. PURPOSE. To define the policy and procedures for the restoration rights, reemployment rights, reinstatement rights, return rights, and priority or concurrent consideration of the Federal Highway Administration employees who are so entitled by law, regulation or administrative determinations.

2. PLACEMENT RIGHTS BASED ON STATUTE OR REGULATION. Each of the rights defined below are individual employee rights which are based on statute and regulation and take precedence over any other priority consideration entitlement. These rights are generally exercised at the employee's initiative, except the return from an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment upon termination of that assignment.

   2. Reemployment, Reinstatement, and Return Rights. These are entitlements, based upon law, of anemployee to return to career employment after assignment to other kinds of employment. These include, but are not limited to the statutory rights outlined in Table 1 (attached).

      Table 1. Statutory Reemployment, Reinstatement and Return Rights

      LAW	AUTHORITY	PROVISION	STIPULATION
      Military Service Restoration Right	5 U.S.C. 3551; 38 U.S.C. 2021; Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.	Right to position held prior to being ordered to duty.	Must be exercised by the employee within 90 days of the release from Military duty.
      Foreign Service Reinstate-ment Right	5 CFR 352 & Foreign Assistance Act of 1961	Right to former position or to one like it in seniority, status and pay
      International Organization Reemployment Right	5 U.S.C. 3581 and 3582	Reemployment right into same or like position.	Initial transfer must have been approved by the FHWA Adminstr.
      Intergovern-mental Personnel Act Return Right	IPA of 1970; 5 U.S.C. 3373	Right to former position or to one at the same grade.
      Temporary Promotion Return Right	5 CFR 335.102	Right to return to previous position upon termination of Temporary Promotion

   3. Procedures and Responsibilities. An employee who has any of the rights listed above is responsible for advising the servicing personnel office at the time he/she is eligible. It is the responsibility of the servicing personnel office to oversee such employee rights and entitlements, and to notify management in advance of the possible exercise of such rights so that appropriate placements may be made. Management is responsible for planning staffing programs and management positions in their organizations to provide for timely placement of these employees.

3. PRIORITY CONSIDERATION PROGRAM BASED ON STATUTE OR REGULATION -- GRADE/PAY RETENTION ELIGIBLES. Under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5364, and 5 CFR 536.301, those employees who are entitled to grade and/or pay retention under the coverage of 5 U.S.C. 5362 or 5363 must be provided with priority consideration. Placements made under these provisions are treated as exceptions to merit promotion procedures.

   1. Priority Consideration.

      (1) Priority consideration is the review of an eligible employee's qualification by the selecting official prior to any competitive action (vacancy announcement or other recruitment action) being taken to fill a vacancy.

      (2) If FHWA employees under grade and/or pay retention are available for the specific position to be filled, they are to be considered for placement at their retained grade or pay level, and/or intervening grade/pay levels. Employees must be granted consideration in accordance with the appropriate area of consideration.

      (3) Employees who are under grade retention must have the experience they gained subsequent to the action that placed them in a retained grade, i.e., reclassification or reduction-in-force, considered in accordance with 5 CFR 337.102. That regulation requires that the employee's experience be considered to be either:

      (a) at the level of the retained grade and in the series of the position he or she occupied at the time of the action which placed him or her in a retained grade; or

      (b) at the grade and in the series of the position to which the employee is assigned as a result of the action which placed him or her under retained grade.

      (4) Experience must be considered 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.

   2. Eligibility. Eligibility for priority consideration continues until the individual is offered or declines an offer of a position equal to his/her retained grade or pay and which is within his/her commuting area.

   3. Availability. Within their commuting area, employees must be available for any position for which they qualify.

   4. Procedures.

      (1) Employee Procedures.

      (a) An employee who is eligible for consideration beyond the commuting area should notify his/her servicing personnel office by submitting a Statement of Availability accompanied by a current resume, Personal Qualifications Statement, SF-171 or OF-61.

      (b) These procedures should not be construed as a substitute for an individually filed application for any announced vacancy for which the employee believes he/she is qualified, nor to prevent an employee from filing for such a vacancy.

      (2) Personnel Office Procedures.

      (a) The servicing personnel office will forward a completed Statement of Availability and the employee's qualifications statement to each region the employee has identified for availability. A copy will also be sent to OPT.

      (b) Servicing personnel offices will maintain listings of eligible employees within the areas serviced by that personnel office. OPT will maintain a central master listing of employees eligible for consideration on a FHWA-wide basis. Servicing personnel offices will advise other personnel offices of additions and deletions to the master listing.

4. CONCURRENT CONSIDERATION. Concurrent consideration is the review of an eligible employee's qualifications by the selecting official simultaneously with the qualifications of employees obtained through merit promotion. The following programs grant specific administrative entitlements to eligible employees for concurrent consideration.

   1. Eligibility Based on Failure to Receive Proper Consideration in a Merit Promotion Action. This consideration is based on FHWA Personnel Management Manual (PMM), Chapter 3, Section 1, covering employees not given proper consideration in a previous merit promotion action. These employees must be provided with concurrent promotion consideration for the next appropriate vacancy to compensate for the lost consideration. The consideration is provided only when the promotion action in question is allowed to stand. Servicing personnel offices will maintain a record of these candidates and advise management officials when such consideration is to be provided.

   2. Repromotion Consideration Program. This consideration covers employees who were demoted through no fault of their own and not at their own request, and who are not covered by the grade/pay retention provisions of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) of 1980. These employees may be given repromotion consideration as an exception to competitive merit promotion procedures.

      (1) Employees should notify their servicing personnel office, by means of an availabilitystatement and a Personal Qualifications Statement, SF-171 or optional application for Federal Employment, OF 612.

      (2) Servicing personnel offices will maintain a list of employees eligible for repromotion and advise management of the employees' eligibility for consideration.

      (3) Selecting officials must review the employees' application and consider them for the positions for which they are available.

      (4) These procedures should not be construed to substitute for or to prevent any such eligible employees from individually filing an application for any vacancy for which they believe they are qualified.

5. RELATIVE PRIORITIES OF PROGRAMS. Listed below in order of priority is an overview of the various programs described above.

   1. Management Placement Programs Based on Statute or Regulation. Management must place employees with regulatory or statutory restoration, reemployment, or return rights. These include Military Service Restoration, Foreign Service Reinstatement, International Organization Reemployment, IPA Return and Temporary Promotion Rights.

   2. Placement Rights Based on Administrative Commitment. In accordance with management priorities, employees returning from designated assignments may be placed in available vacancies for which they are qualified providing no eligible employees are available for the position.

   3. Priority Consideration Programs Based on Statute or Regulation. Employees on grade and pay retention receive consideration for available vacancies before any competitive action is taken to fill such vacancies.

   4. Concurrent Consideration. Employees entitled to consideration are entitled to receive consideration for vacancies for which they qualify along with candidates competing through the merit promotion process.

6. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (DOT) REEMPLOYMENT PRIORITY LIST RPL).

   1. In accordance with DPM Chapter 330,a career or career-conditional employee who is separated because of RIF or a compensable injury or disability where recovery takes more than one year from the time the employee began receiving compensation, will be entered on the DOT RPL for all DOT positions and grade levels in his/her local commuting area for which qualified and available.

   2. Each servicing personnel office is responsible for establishing and maintaining a list for the areas it services, and for furnishing a copy of the list to other DOT personnel offices having facilities in the same commuting areas.

   3. Employees are requested to notify their servicing personnel office of the types of positions and grade levels for which they wish to receive consideration, and to furnish the personnel office with a SF-171 or OF-61 for use by all DOT offices in the commuting area. This list must be used when filling vacancies by recruitment from outside DOT. Reemployment from the RPL is treated as a reinstatement. The maximum eligibility period is one year from the date of separation for career-conditional employees and two years for career employees.

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