§3310 Employment of United States Government agency personnel

Summary

Federal agencies may let their workers leave government jobs temporarily to work for the Institute under rules the President sets. Workers who do this can be rehired or reinstated by their old agency (or its successor) in a suitable job with the same rights and benefits they would have had if they had stayed, subject to time limits the President sets. While continuously employed by the Institute, those workers keep participating in the federal benefits they had before (covers compensation for job-related death, injury, or illness; health and life insurance; annual, sick, and other leave; and retirement), but only if the required employee and employer payments for that time are actually deposited into the benefit funds. If a worker dies or retires while serving at the Institute, it counts as death or retirement from Government service. Workers who began approved unpaid Institute service before April 10, 1979 get these benefits for that time. Agencies may transfer alien staff in Taiwan to the Institute without breaking service, keeping allowances, benefits, and retirement rights, again only to the extent required contributions are deposited. Institute employees are not U.S. employees and are exempt from section 207 of title 18. For tax rules, amounts paid by the Institute are not treated as earned income under sections 911 and 913 of title 26 and are tax-exempt to the extent they match allowances exempt under section 912 of title 26. Except as needed for the benefit rule above, Institute service does not count as employment for chapter 21 of title 26 or for title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.).