•HRES 1757 EH 
department or subdivision of the employing office within the 
local commuting area. 
(c) Position classifications or job classifications are de-
termined by the employing office, and shall refer to all cov-
ered positions within a competitive area that are in the same 
grade, occupational level or classification, and which are simi-
lar enough in duties, qualification requirements, pay sched-
ules, tenure (type of appointment) and working conditions so 
that an employing office may reassign the incumbent of one 
position to any of the other positions in the position classi-
fication without undue interruption. 
(d) Preference Eligibles. For the purpose of applying 
veterans’ preference in reductions in force, except with re-
spect to the application of section 1.114 of these regulations 
regarding the waiver of physical requirements, the following 
shall apply: 
(1) ‘‘active service’’ has the meaning given it by sec-
tion 101 of title 37; 
(2) ‘‘a retired member of a uniformed service’’ 
means a member or former member of a uniformed serv-
ice who is entitled, under statute, to retired, retirement, 
or retainer pay on account of his/her service as such a 
member; and 
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•HRES 1757 EH 
(3) a preference eligible covered employee who is a 
retired member of a uniformed service is considered a 
preference eligible only if 
(A) his/her retirement was based on dis-
ability— 
(i) resulting from injury or disease re-
ceived in line of duty as a direct result of 
armed conflict; or 
(ii) caused by an instrumentality of war 
and incurred in the line of duty during a pe-
riod of war as defined by sections 101 and 
1101 of title 38; 
(B) his/her service does not include twenty or 
more years of full-time active service, regardless of 
when performed but not including periods of active 
duty for training; or 
(C) on November 30, 1964, he/she was em-
ployed in a position to which this subchapter applies 
and thereafter he/she continued to be so employed 
without a break in service of more than 30 days. 
The definition of ‘‘preference eligible’’ as set forth in 5 
U.S.C § 2108 and section 1.102(o) of these regulations shall 
apply to waivers of physical requirements in determining an 
employee’s qualifications for retention under section 1.114 of 
these regulations. 
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•HRES 1757 EH 
H&S Regs:
(e) Reduction in force is any termination 
of a covered employee’s employment or the reduction in pay 
and/or position grade of a covered employee for more than 30 
days and that may be required for budgetary or workload 
reasons, changes resulting from reorganization, or the need 
to make room for an employee with reemployment or restora-
tion rights. The term ‘‘reduction in force’’ does not encom-
pass a termination or other personnel action: (1) predicated 
upon performance, conduct or other grounds attributable to 
an employee, or (2) involving an employee who is employed 
by the employing office on a temporary basis, or (3) attrib-
utable to a change in party leadership or majority party sta-
tus within the House of Congress where the employee is em-
ployed. 
C Reg:
(e) Reduction in force is any termination of 
a covered employee’s employment or the reduction in pay 
and/or position grade of a covered employee for more than 30 
days and that may be required for budgetary or workload 
reasons, changes resulting from reorganization, or the need 
to make room for an employee with reemployment or restora-
tion rights. The term ‘‘reduction in force’’ does not encom-
pass a termination or other personnel action: (1) predicated 
upon performance, conduct or other grounds attributable to 
an employee, or (2) involving an employee who is employed 
by the employing office on a temporary basis. 
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•HRES 1757 EH 
(f) Undue interruption is a degree of interruption that 
would prevent the completion of required work by a covered 
employee 90 days after the employee has been placed in a dif-
ferent position under this part. The 90-day standard should 
be considered within the allowable limits of time and quality, 
taking into account the pressures of priorities, deadlines, and 
other demands. However, work generally would not be consid-
ered to be unduly interrupted if a covered employee needs 
more than 90 days after the reduction in force to perform the 
optimum quality or quantity of work. The 90-day standard 
may be extended if placement is made under this part to a 
program accorded low priority by the employing office, or to 
a vacant position. 
SEC. 1.112. APPLICATION OF PREFERENCE IN REDUCTIONS IN 
FORCE. 
Prior to carrying out a reduction in force that will affect 
covered employees, employing offices shall determine which, if 
any, covered employees within a particular group of com-
peting covered employees are entitled to veterans’ preference 
eligibility status in accordance with these regulations. In de-
termining which covered employees will be retained, employ-
ing offices will treat veterans’ preference as the controlling 
factor in retention decisions among such competing covered 
employees, regardless of length of service or performance, 
provided that the preference eligible employee’s performance 
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•HRES 1757 EH 
has not been determined to be unacceptable. Provided, a pref-
erence eligible employee who is a ‘‘disabled veteran’’ under 
section 1.102(h) above who has a compensable service-con-
nected disability of 30 percent or more and whose perform-
ance has not been determined to be unacceptable by an em-
ploying office is entitled to be retained in preference to other 
preference eligible employees. Provided, this section does not 
relieve an employing office of any greater obligation it may 
be subject to pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Re-
training Notification Act (29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq.) as ap-
plied by section 102(a)(9) of the CAA, 2 U.S.C. § 1302(a)(9). 
SEC. 1.113. CREDITING EXPERIENCE IN REDUCTIONS IN FORCE. 
In computing length of service in connection with a re-
duction in force, the employing office shall provide credit to 
preference eligible covered employees as follows: 
(a) a preference eligible covered employee who is not a 
retired member of a uniformed service is entitled to credit for 
the total length of time in active service in the armed forces; 
(b) a preference eligible covered employee who is a re-
tired member of a uniformed service is entitled to credit for: 
(1) the length of time in active service in the armed 
forces during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for 
which a campaign badge has been authorized; or 
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•HRES 1757 EH 
(2) the total length of time in active service in the 
armed forces if he is included under 5 U.S.C. 
§ 3501(a)(3)(A), (B), or (C); and 
(c) a preference eligible covered employee is entitled to 
credit for: 
(1) service rendered as an employee of a county 
committee established pursuant to section 8(b) of the 
Soil Conservation and Allotment Act or of a committee 
or association of producers described in section 10(b) of 
the Agricultural Adjustment Act; and 
(2) service rendered as an employee described in 5 
U.S.C. § 2105(c) if such employee moves or has moved, 
on or after January 1, 1966, without a break in service 
of more than 3 days, from a position in a non-
appropriated fund instrumentality of the Department of 
Defense or the Coast Guard to a position in the Depart-
ment of Defense or the Coast Guard, respectively, that 
is not described in 5 U.S.C. § 2105(c). 
SEC. 1.114. WAIVER OF PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS IN REDUC-
TIONS IN FORCE. 
(a) If an employing office determines, on the basis of 
evidence before it, that a covered employee is preference eligi-
ble, the employing office shall waive, in determining the cov-
ered employee’s retention status in a reduction in force: 
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