Transfer

A transfer or reassignment was where an individual was moved from one position, department, or assignment to another, by either order or request, sometimes as part of a punishment or reward, which often took the form of a promotion or demotion. Transfers could be requested via a transfer application. (LD: "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel")

New transfers were often instructed to meet with their orientation liaison. (LD: "Second Contact")

During the early 2380s, for an officer to be transferred to Starbase 80 was among the worst penalties available for non-criminal infractions – one some commanders considered needlessly cruel and were unwilling to resort to beyond an empty threat. (LD: "Reflections")

Notable transfers

In 2266, Lieutenant Kevin Riley was assigned to the communications section of the USS Enterprise, having previously come up from the engineering decks. Shortly thereafter, when Captain James T. Kirk believed that an actor which had been brought aboard the ship was, in actuality, Kodos the Executioner, who had murdered Riley's family twenty years previously, he had Riley transferred back down to engineering in an attempt to keep Riley out of harm's way. When issuing the order to Spock, the first officer noted that Riley was "[..] a fine young officer. He's bound to consider this transfer a disciplinary action." (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")

In his career, prior to 2365, Jean-Luc Picard had been transferred "dozens of times", each of which was preceded by what he called "the practice of the feast before the transfer." (TNG: "A Matter Of Honor")

In 2380, after taking credit for inadvertently saving the USS Cerritos from the Drookmani, Ensign Fletcher was commended by Commander Jack Ransom, who stated, "Fletcher demonstrated the sort of selfless heroism that Starfleet's all about. It's that heroism that earned him a promotion and a transfer to the Titan!" The transfer lasted just six days; Fletcher was demoted, fired, and transferred to Earth for throwing garbage into the Titan's warp core. (LD: "Terminal Provocations")

Later that year, Commander Andy Billups chastised Lieutenant Cody for being "out of line", after Cody brought up Shaxs' resurrection in front of Shaxs and the entire engineering staff, and consequently ordered Cody to "report to your supervisor for immediate reassignment." (LD: "We'll Always Have Tom Paris")

In 2381, Captain Carol Freeman punitively transferred Ensign Beckett Mariner to Starbase 80 for conducting an unauthorized interview with FNN reporter Victoria Nuzé, believing Mariner had badmouthed the ship to Nuzé. When the exposé Starfleet's Shame aired, however, it became clear that the information Mariner was accused of disclosing had come from authorized interviewees who were too used to life on the Cerritos to realize that their "funny" anecdotes might make the crew sound unprofessional and dysfunctional and shipboard life sound like a series of bizarre misadventures, and that Mariner was the only interviewee to give a fully positive interview, meaning Freeman's attempt to control the narrative had completely backfired. Freeman attempted to contact Mariner to apologize, but the unfair punishment had led to Mariner's resignation from Starfleet in the interim. (LD: "Trusted Sources")

Ensign Olly, a Greek demigod with electrical powers she could not control, was punitively transferred from six different ships for causing minor electrical accidents and for reckless and irresponsible behavior caused by a desire to prove herself. In 2382, she was transferred from the USS Reseda to the Cerritos after causing an electrical fire on the Reseda. Captain Freeman was close to transferring Olly after she continued to cause trouble, but now-Lieutenant jg Mariner took her under her wing and eventually learned about her powers, saving her posting on the Cerritos. (LD: "Of Gods and Angles")