Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-110

§3974 Border Equalization Pay Adjustment

Title 22 › CHAPTER 52 — FOREIGN SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER IV — COMPENSATION › § 3974

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Employees who live in the continental United States and regularly commute to an official duty station in Canada or Mexico must get a border equalization pay adjustment. The amount equals the comparability pay under 5 U.S.C. 5304 they would get if assigned to the U.S. locality pay area nearest that station, and counts as basic pay. Agency heads may make rules to apply this. Employee: a person covered by 5 U.S.C. 2105 who works for Department of State, USAID, or the International Joint Commission; excludes Service members (see 3903).

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §3974

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

An employee who regularly commutes from the employee’s place of residence in the continental United States to an official duty station in Canada or Mexico shall receive a border equalization pay adjustment equal to the amount of comparability payments under section 5304 of title 5 that the employee would receive if the employee were assigned to an official duty station within the United States locality pay area closest to the employee’s official duty station.

(b)Employee defined

For purposes of this section, the term “employee” means a person who—

(1)is an “employee” as defined under section 2105 of title 5; and

(2)is employed by the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, or the International Joint Commission of the United States and Canada (established under Article VII of the treaty signed January 11, 1909) (36 Stat. 2448), except that the term shall not include members of the Service (as specified in section 3903 of this title).

(c)Treatment as basic pay

An equalization pay adjustment paid under this section shall be considered to be part of basic pay for the same purposes for which comparability payments are considered to be part of basic pay under section 5304 of title 5.

(d)Regulations

The heads of the agencies referred to in subsection (b)(2) may prescribe regulations to carry out this section.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 3974

Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110