253.16—Effective date of decisions.
(a)
Decisions of the Panama Canal Board of Appeals shall be binding upon all employing agencies, and shall be effective not later than the beginning of the fourth pay period following the receipt of the decision in the employing agency unless a specific date is stated in the decision in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.
(b)
When the appeal to the Panama Canal Board of Appeals is made within 30 calendar days from the date of an employee's receipt of an adverse decision from his employing agency on a classification appeal provided by § 253.13, if it is from an action lowering the grade or pay level of the employee's position, and the decision of the Panama Canal Board of Appeals raises the grade or pay level of the position, the effective date shall be retroactive to the date of the action which lowered the grade or pay level. However, when the decision of the Panama Canal Board of Appeals raises the grade or pay level of the position above the grade or pay level in effect immediately preceding the lowering thereof, retroactivity will apply only to the extent of restoration to the grade or pay level in effect immediately preceding the lowering thereof. Retroactivity may be based only on duties and responsibilities existing at the time of the lowering of the grade or pay level and not on the basis of duties and responsibilities later assigned.
(c)
The right to a retroactive effective date under paragraph (b) of this section may be preserved in the discretion of the Panama Canal Board of Appeals upon a showing by the employee that reasons beyond his control prevented him from appealing within the 30-day period referred to in that subparagraph and that he did appeal as promptly as circumstances permitted.