Not my circus so I don’t pay the bills.
Show me on a Jepp where it says a mandatory altitude is optional.
You’re not a paid puppet, if it looks like you’re not making an altitude up or down it’s time to do some pilot stuff…within reasonable operating parameters obviously. The ‘normal maneuvering’ part of it.
Taking out the derate falls perfectly in the ‘normal pilot stuff’ category.
Let’s not loose sight of the bigger picture here.