The Commission was established as a means to maintain United States control and to allow for increased Panamanian participation in operating the Canal. Prior to the Treaty, the Canal was run by the Panama Canal Company and the Canal Zone Government. Petitioners began working as temporary employees between June 1961 and August 1979 for either the Panama Canal Company or the Canal Zone Government. They continued working at the Canal as temporary employees until their conversion to permanent positions with the Commission during 1980 and 1981. Because the petitioners were not covered by the CSRS prior to the effective date of the Treaty, the board ruled that they were excluded from future coverage.
All federal employment begins by appointment.
This is an issue of statutory interpretation, over which we exercise plenary review. Ed A. Wilson, Inc. v. General Servs. The first step, which the board appears to have skipped, in interpreting a statute is to examine its plain language. In lieu of determining its plain meaning, the board looked to section 3649's legislative history. Section 3649 was amended by section 3527 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997, Pub L. No.