I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3870

To authorize the Agency for International Development to offer voluntary

separation incentive payments to employees of that agency.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 23, 1996

Mr. GILMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To authorize the Agency for International Development to

offer voluntary separation incentive payments to employees of that agency.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVES FOR

4 EMPLOYEES OF THE AGENCY FOR INTER5 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act—

7 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ means the Agency for

8 International Development;
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1 (2) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad2 ministrator, Agency for International Development;

3 and

4 (3) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an employee

5 (as defined by section 2105 of title 5, United States

6 Code) who is employed by the agency, is serving

7 under an appointment without time limitation, and

8 has been currently employed for a continuous period

9 of at least 12 months, but does not include—

10 (A) any employee who, upon separation

11 and application, would then be eligible for an

12 immediate annuity under subchapter III of

13 chapter 83 (except for section 8336(d)(2)) or

14 chapter 84 (except for section 8414(b)(1)(B))

15 of title 5, United States Code, or corresponding

16 provisions of another retirement system for em17 ployees of the agency;

18 (B) a reemployed annuitant under sub19 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title

20 5, United States Code, or another retirement

21 system for employees of the agency;

22 (C) an employee having a disability on the

23 basis of which such employee is or would be eli24 gible for disability retirement under the applica-
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1 ble retirement system referred to in subpara2 graph (A);

3 (D) an employee who is to be separated in4 voluntarily for misconduct or unacceptable per5 formance, and to whom specific notice has been

6 given with respect to that separation;

7 (E) an employee who, upon completing an

8 additional period of service, as referred to in

9 section 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Federal Workforce

10 Restructuring Act of 1994 (5 U.S.C. 5597

11 note), would qualify for a voluntary separation

12 incentive payment under section 3 of such Act;

13 (F) an employee who has previously re14 ceived any voluntary separation incentive pay15 ment by the Government of the United States

16 under this Act or any other authority and has

17 not repaid such payment;

18 (G) an employee covered by statutory re19 employment rights who is on transfer to an20 other organization; or

21 (H) any employee who, during the 24-

22 month period preceding the date of separation,

23 received a recruitment or relocation bonus

24 under section 5753 of title 5, United States

25 Code, or who, within the 12-month period pre-
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1 ceding the date of separation, received a reten2 tion allowance under section 5754 of such title

3 5.

4 (b) AGENCY STRATEGIC PLAN.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, before

6 obligating any resources for voluntary separation in7 centive payments under this Act, shall submit to the

8 House and Senate Committees on Appropriations

9 and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the

10 Senate and the Committee on Government Reform

11 and Oversight of the House of Representatives a

12 strategic plan outlining the intended use of such in13 centive payments and a proposed organizational

14 chart for the agency once such incentive payments

15 have been completed.

16 (2) CONTENTS.—The agency’s plan shall in17 clude—

18 (A) the positions and functions to be re19 duced or eliminated, identified by organizational

20 unit, geographic location, occupational category

21 and grade level;

22 (B) the number and amounts of voluntary

23 separation incentive payments to be offered;
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1 (C) a description of how the agency will

2 operate without the eliminated positions and

3 functions; and

4 (D) a report on the anticipated impact of

5 the reductions or eliminations referred to in

6 subparagraph (A) (as the case may be) with re7 spect to the implementation of the Foreign As8 sistance Act of 1961 and the State Department

9 Basic Authorities Act of 1956, respectively.

10 (c) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE VOLUNTARY SEPARA11 TION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—A voluntary separation in13 centive payment under this Act may be paid by the

14 agency to not more than 100 employees of such

15 agency and only to the extent necessary to eliminate

16 the positions and functions identified by the strate17 gic plan.

18 (2) AMOUNT AND TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—

19 A voluntary separation incentive payment under this

20 Act—

21 (A) shall be paid in a lump sum after the

22 employee’s separation;

23 (B) shall be paid from appropriations or

24 funds available for the payment of the basic pay

25 of the employees;
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1 (C) shall be equal to the lesser of—

2 (i) an amount equal to the amount

3 the employee would be entitled to receive

4 under section 5595(c) of title 5, United

5 States Code, if the employee were entitled

6 to payment under such section; or

7 (ii) an amount determined by the

8 agency head not to exceed $25,000;

9 (D) may not be made except in the case of

10 any employee who voluntarily separates (wheth11 er by retirement or resignation) before Feb12 ruary 1, 1997;

13 (E) shall not be a basis for payment, and

14 shall not be included in the computation, of any

15 other type of Government benefit; and

16 (F) shall not be taken into account in de17 termining the amount of any severance pay to

18 which the employee may be entitled under sec19 tion 5595 of title 5, United States Code, based

20 on any other separation.

21 (d) ADDITIONAL AGENCY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE

22 RETIREMENT FUND.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other

24 payments which it is required to make under sub25 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title 5,
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1 United States Code, the agency shall remit to the

2 Office of Personnel Management for deposit in the

3 Treasury of the United States to the credit of the

4 Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund an

5 amount equal to 15 percent of the final basic pay of

6 each employee of the agency who is covered under

7 subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title

8 5, United States Code, to whom a voluntary separa9 tion incentive has been paid under this Act.

10 (2) DEFINITION.—For the purpose of para11 graph (1), the term ‘‘final basic pay’’, with respect

12 to an employee, means the total amount of basic pay

13 which would be payable for a year of service by such

14 employee, computed using the employee’s final rate

15 of basic pay, and, if last serving on other than a

16 full-time basis, with appropriate adjustment there17 for.

18 (e) EFFECT OF SUBSEQUENT EMPLOYMENT WITH

19 THE GOVERNMENT.—An individual who has received a

20 voluntary separation incentive payment under this Act and

21 accepts any employment for compensation with the Gov22 ernment of the United States, or who works for any agen23 cy of the Government of the United States through a per24 sonal services contract, within 5 years after the date of

25 the separation on which the payment is based shall be re-
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1 quired to pay, prior to the individual’s first day of employ2 ment, the entire amount of the incentive payment to the

3 agency that paid the incentive payment.

4 (f) REDUCTION OF AGENCY EMPLOYMENT LEV5 ELS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The total number of funded

7 employee positions in the agency shall be reduced by

8 one position for each vacancy created by the separa9 tion of any employee who has received, or is due to

10 receive, a voluntary separation incentive payment

11 under this Act. For the purposes of this subsection,

12 positions shall be counted on a full-time-equivalent

13 basis.

14 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—The President, through

15 the Office of Management and Budget, shall monitor

16 the agency and take any action necessary to ensure

17 that the requirements of this subsection are met.

18 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION.

19 There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the

20 Agency for International Development such sums as may

21 be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

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