§7657 Senior Scientific Research Service

Summary

The Department of Agriculture sets up a Senior Scientific Research Service to hire top researchers in agriculture and forestry. The Secretary picks the members. To join, a person must have done outstanding research, hold a doctoral degree, and meet OPM’s standards for a GS‑15 job. No more than 100 people can serve at once. The Secretary must create a performance review system to judge work and encourage excellence. The Secretary decides members’ pay, but it must be at least the GS‑15 minimum and no more than Executive Schedule level I unless the President approves under 5 U.S.C. 5377(d)(2). The Secretary can hire members without following many usual federal hiring and personnel rules, but those members keep the same appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board and the same right to file complaints with the Office of Special Counsel as GS‑15 employees. If a member was a higher‑education employee right before joining and can still pay into that school’s retirement plan, the Secretary may pay up to 10% of the member’s basic pay into that plan. That Service time will not give credit under chapters 83 or 84 of title 5, but it will count for years of service under 5 U.S.C. 6303(a). If a member is separated involuntarily and without cause, the Secretary may place them in a GS‑15 position as a career appointment; if they were not a career appointee before joining, the appointment will be to the excepted service and may not exceed 2 years.