II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3870

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 31, 1996

Received

AN ACT

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,
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1 SECTION 1. VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVES FOR

2 EMPLOYEES OF THE AGENCY FOR INTER3 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

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

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

6 International Development;

7 (2) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad8 ministrator, Agency for International Development;

9 and

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

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

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

13 under an appointment without time limitation, and

14 has been currently employed for a continuous period

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

16 (A) any employee who, upon separation

17 and application, would then be eligible for an

18 immediate annuity under subchapter III of

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

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

21 of title 5, United States Code, or corresponding

22 provisions of another retirement system for em23 ployees of the agency;

24 (B) a reemployed annuitant under sub25 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title
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1 5, United States Code, or another retirement

2 system for employees of the agency;

3 (C) an employee having a disability on the

4 basis of which such employee is or would be eli5 gible for disability retirement under the applica6 ble retirement system referred to in subpara7 graph (A);

8 (D) an employee who is to be separated in9 voluntarily for misconduct or unacceptable per10 formance, and to whom specific notice has been

11 given with respect to that separation;

12 (E) an employee who, upon completing an

13 additional period of service, as referred to in

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

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

16 note), would qualify for a voluntary separation

17 incentive payment under section 3 of such Act;

18 (F) an employee who has previously re19 ceived any voluntary separation incentive pay20 ment by the Government of the United States

21 under this Act or any other authority and has

22 not repaid such payment;

23 (G) an employee covered by statutory re24 employment rights who is on transfer to an25 other organization; or
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1 (H) any employee who, during the 24-

2 month period preceding the date of separation,

3 received a recruitment or relocation bonus

4 under section 5753 of title 5, United States

5 Code, or who, within the 12-month period pre6 ceding the date of separation, received a reten7 tion allowance under section 5754 of such title

8 5.

9 (b) AGENCY STRATEGIC PLAN.—

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

11 obligating any resources for voluntary separation in12 centive payments under this Act, shall submit to the

13 House and Senate Committees on Appropriations

14 and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the

15 Senate and the Committee on Government Reform

16 and Oversight of the House of Representatives a

17 strategic plan outlining the intended use of such in18 centive payments and a proposed organizational

19 chart for the agency once such incentive payments

20 have been completed.

21 (2) CONTENTS.—The agency’s plan shall in22 clude—

23 (A) the positions and functions to be re24 duced or eliminated, identified by organizational
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1 unit, geographic location, occupational category

2 and grade level; and

3 (B) the number and amounts of voluntary

4 separation incentive payments to be offered;

5 and

6 (C) a description of how the agency will

7 operate without the eliminated positions and

8 functions.

9 (c) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE VOLUNTARY SEPARA10 TION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—A voluntary separation in12 centive payment under this Act may be paid by the

13 agency to not more than 100 employees of such

14 agency and only to the extent necessary to eliminate

15 the positions and functions identified by the strate16 gic plan.

17 (2) AMOUNT AND TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—

18 A voluntary separation incentive payment under this

19 Act—

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

21 employee’s separation;

22 (B) shall be paid from appropriations or

23 funds available for the payment of the basic pay

24 of the employees;

25 (C) shall be equal to the lesser of—
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1 (i) an amount equal to the amount

2 the employee would be entitled to receive

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

4 States Code, if the employee were entitled

5 to payment under such section; or

6 (ii) an amount determined by the

7 agency head not to exceed $25,000;

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

9 any employee who voluntarily separates (wheth10 er by retirement or resignation) before Feb11 ruary 1, 1997;

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

13 shall not be included in the computation, of any

14 other type of Government benefit; and

15 (F) shall not be taken into account in de16 termining the amount of any severance pay to

17 which the employee may be entitled under sec18 tion 5595 of title 5, United States Code, based

19 on any other separation.

20 (d) ADDITIONAL AGENCY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE

21 RETIREMENT FUND.—

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

23 payments which it is required to make under sub24 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title 5,

25 United States Code, the agency shall remit to the
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1 Office of Personnel Management for deposit in the

2 Treasury of the United States to the credit of the

3 Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund an

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

5 each employee of the agency who is covered under

6 subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title

7 5, United States Code, to whom a voluntary separa8 tion incentive has been paid under this Act.

9 (2) DEFINITION.—For the purpose of para10 graph (1), the term ‘‘final basic pay’’, with respect

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

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

13 employee, computed using the employee’s final rate

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

15 full-time basis, with appropriate adjustment there16 for.

17 (e) EFFECT OF SUBSEQUENT EMPLOYMENT WITH

18 THE GOVERNMENT.—An individual who has received a

19 voluntary separation incentive payment under this Act and

20 accepts any employment for compensation with the Gov21 ernment of the United States, or who works for any agen22 cy of the Government of the United States through a per23 sonal services contract, within 5 years after the date of

24 the separation on which the payment is based shall be re25 quired to pay, prior to the individual’s first day of employ-
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1 ment, the entire amount of the incentive payment to the

2 agency that paid the incentive payment.

3 (f) REDUCTION OF AGENCY EMPLOYMENT LEV4 ELS.—

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

6 employee positions in the agency shall be reduced by

7 one position for each vacancy created by the separa8 tion of any employee who has received, or is due to

9 receive, a voluntary separation incentive payment

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

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

12 basis.

13 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—The President, through

14 the Office of Management and Budget, shall monitor

15 the agency and take any action necessary to ensure

16 that the requirements of this subsection are met.

Passed the House of Representatives July 29, 1996.

Attest: ROBIN H. CARLE,

Clerk.