1800 Appointments

1850(F) Voluntary Demotions

.1 Background

.110 Description and Legal Basis

.111 Voluntary demotions are herein defined as the movement of a permanent employee from a higher salary grade position to a lower salary grade position with the agreement of the employee. This includes those situations in which an employee agrees to a demotion in lieu of discipline, but does not include those demotions which are penalties explicitly imposed by the disciplinary process, nor those situations which occur because of reclassification or reallocation, nor the return of probationers to hold items.

.112 There is no explicit authority in statute or rule for a voluntary demotion. However, voluntary movement from a higher level position to a lower level position may occur through mechanisms which are extant in law or rule:

• Transfer to a lower level position may be made pursuant to §70.1, §70.4 or §52.6.
• Reinstatement to a lower level position may be made pursuant to Rule 5.4.
• Appointment may be made to a lower level non-competitive class or a labor class position pursuant to CSR 2.2 or 2.3, respectively.
  Since these sections of law and rule are enabling, their related laws, rules and policies must also be applied.

.2 Policy

.211 The Department of Civil Service shall permit a voluntary demotion provided that the employee is qualified to perform the duties and responsibilities of the lower-level position, and the voluntary demotion takes place in accord with the general policies applicable to the type of appointment under which the demotion will occur.

.212 Probationary periods for voluntary demotions are those required by the type of appointment under which they occur.

.4 Procedures

.411 Where a voluntary demotion is intended, agencies should submit PR-75's with V DEMOTE as the appointment code. This code and the following procedures should not be confused with demotions which occur as a result of disciplinary action using the appointment code DEMOTE. [NYSTEP no longer contains or accepts a code for Voluntary Demotions. See your NYSTEP Manual.]

.412 Agencies submitting Payroll Transactions with V DEMOTE as the transaction code must also indicate the appropriate type of appointment in the REMARKS section, i.e.

• Transfer §70.1 (or §52.6, or §70.4)
• Reinstatement (Rule 5.4)
• Appointment to the Non-competitive class (§2.2)
• Appointment to the Labor class (§2.3)

.413 Where a voluntary demotion via transfer occurs, an indication of whether or not the employee will serve a probationary period must also appear on the PR-75. Where a probationary period will be served, the appropriate probation end date should appear in Box 20 on the PR-75. Where no probationary period will be served "Probation waived" must appear in the REMARKS section.

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