Section 536.302 - Optional pay retention(a) Subject to the requirements in § 536.102 and this section, an authorized agency official may provide pay retention to an employee not entitled to pay retention under § 536.301 , but whose payable rate of basic pay otherwise would be reduced (after application of any applicable geographic conversion under § 536.303(a) ) as the result of a management action. This includes a management action to move an employee's position, without a break in service of more than 3 days, from a Department of Defense or Coast Guard nonappropriated fund instrumentality (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2105(c) ) to a position under a covered pay system in the same agency.(b) If an employee's official worksite changes in conjunction with an action that may entitle the employee to pay retention under paragraph (a) of this section, the agency must apply the geographic conversion rule in § 536.303(a) before determining whether an employee's rate of basic pay otherwise would be reduced.(c) Eligibility for pay retention under this section ceases under the conditions specified in § 536.308 .