(a) This section applies only to positions classified under the state's position classification plan.
(b) The administrative head of a state agency may reduce an employee's salary for disciplinary reasons, if warranted by the employee's performance, to a rate in the employee's designated salary group not lower than the minimum rate. The agency may, as the employee's performance improves, restore the employee's pay to any rate that does not exceed the employee's prior salary rate without accounting for the restoration as a merit salary increase.