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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 315. Special pay: engineering and scientific career continuation pay
(a) In this section, the term "engineering or scientific duty"
means service performed by an officer -
(1) that requires an engineering or science degree; and
(2) that requires a skill designated (under regulations
prescribed by the Secretary of Defense for the armed forces, by
the Secretary of Commerce for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, or by the Secretary of Health and
Human Services for the Public Health Service) as critical and as
a skill in which there is a critical shortage of officers in the
uniformed service concerned.
(b) Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, an
officer of a (!1) uniformed service who -
(1) is entitled to basic pay;
(2) is below the pay grade of O-7;
(3) holds a degree in engineering or science from an accredited
college or university;
(4) has been certified by the Secretary concerned as having the
technical qualifications for detail to engineering or scientific
duty;
(5) has completed at least three but less than nineteen years
of engineering or scientific duty as an officer; and
(6) executes a written agreement to remain on active duty for
detail to engineering or scientific duty for at least one year,
but not more than four years;
may, upon acceptance of the written agreement by the Secretary
concerned, be paid, in addition to all other compensation to which
the officer is entitled, an amount not to exceed $3,000 multiplied
by the number of years, or monthly fraction thereof, of obligated
service to which the officer agrees under the agreement. The total
amount payable may be paid in a lump sum or in equal periodic
installments, as determined by the Secretary concerned.
(c)(1) An officer who does not serve on active duty for the
entire period for which he has been paid under subsection (b) shall
refund that percentage of the payment that the unserved part of the
period is of the total period for which the payment was made.
Nothing in this subsection shall alter or modify the obligation of
a regular officer to perform active service at the pleasure of the
President. Completion by a regular officer of the total period of
obligated service specified in an agreement under subsection (b)
does not obligate the President to accept a resignation submitted
by that officer.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), and obligation to reimburse the
United States imposed under paragraph (1) is for all purposes a
debt owed to the United States.
(3) The Secretary concerned may waive, in whole or in part, a
refund required under paragraph (1) if the Secretary concerned
determines that recovery would be against equity and good
conscience or would be contrary to the best interests of the United
States.
(4) A discharge in bankruptcy under title 11 that is entered less
than five years after the termination of an agreement under this
section does not discharge the member signing such agreement from a
debt arising under such agreement or under paragraph (1). This
paragraph applies to any case commenced under title 11 after
September 30, 1981.
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