Originally Posted by rickair7777

Upgrade awards are based on:

1) Meeting the minimum FAR qualifications
2) Seniority

There's essentially no subjectivity, discretion, or pre-evaluation involved, if you have the aeronautical experience and the awards reach your seniority, you get it.

Airlines have historically required FO's to get LOR's or evals from CA's who recommend them for upgrades but I doubt many regionals bother enforcing that these days.