42 U.S.C. § 2297h–8: Employee protections

Summary

When the two gaseous diffusion plants are privatized, workers’ earned pension rights and retiree health care must be protected. Workers keep their accrued, vested pension benefits. If the private owner changes contractors, the old pension plan must move the assets and liabilities for those earned benefits to the new owner’s or a joint plan. New employers must follow any unexpired collective bargaining agreement in place on the privatization date until it ends. If no agreement is in force, the employer must keep the same bargaining duties it had right before privatization. A new contractor must offer jobs to non‑management workers from the prior contractor when jobs still exist or the workers are qualified, and must honor the prior contract until it ends or a new one is signed. If there is a plant closing or mass layoff, the Secretary of Energy must treat affected contractor employees who worked there on July 1, 1993, as Department of Energy employees for purposes of sections 3161 and 3162 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 (42 U.S.C. 7274h–7274i). The Secretary and the private company must also keep post‑retirement health benefits available at about the same coverage level for eligible retirees and employees who were vested or retired by the privatization date. The Secretary pays full cost for those who retired before July 1, 1993. For those who retire on or after July 1, 1993, the Secretary and the company split the cost based on the person’s years and months of service under each. Federal employees who were in CSRS or FERS the day before privatization may choose to keep CSRS or FERS or take a deferred annuity or lump sum. If they pick a lump sum, they may move their Thrift Savings Plan balance into the company’s defined contribution plan if rules allow. The Corporation must send required employee and agency payments to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and to the Thrift Savings Fund, pay extra agency contributions as OPM requires to cover normal costs, and may pay up to 2 percent more to cover administration. Employees in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program on the day before privatization who keep CSRS or FERS may choose FEHBP coverage or the company’s health plan. The Corporation must pay required FEHBP deductions and agency shares and reimburse OPM for retiree contributions, prorated to count only service after privatization. Legal claims about labor‑contract breaches or unfair labor practices must follow the existing federal labor‑law procedures; other claims can be filed in federal district court. Finally, if funds are available, by 30 days after August 8, 2005, the Secretary must let certain Portsmouth and Paducah workers who were eligible on April 1, 2005, continue or move into the Multiple Employer Pension Plan and related retiree health plans.

Title 42, §2297h–8

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Contractor employees

(1)Privatization shall not diminish the accrued, vested pension benefits of employees of the Corporation’s operating contractor at the two gaseous diffusion plants.

(2)In the event that the private corporation terminates or changes the contractor at either or both of the gaseous diffusion plants, the plan sponsor or other appropriate fiduciary of the pension plan covering employees of the prior operating contractor shall arrange for the transfer of all plan assets and liabilities relating to accrued pension benefits of such plan’s participants and beneficiaries from such plant to a pension plan sponsored by the new contractor or the private corporation or a joint labor-management plan, as the case may be.

(3)In addition to any obligations arising under the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), any employer (including the private corporation if it operates a gaseous diffusion plant without a contractor or any contractor of the private corporation) at a gaseous diffusion plant shall—

(A)abide by the terms of any unexpired collective bargaining agreement covering employees in bargaining units at the plant and in effect on the privatization date until the stated expiration or termination date of the agreement; or

(B)in the event a collective bargaining agreement is not in effect upon the privatization date, have the same bargaining obligations under section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(d)) as it had immediately before the privatization date.

(4)If the private corporation replaces its operating contractor at a gaseous diffusion plant, the new employer (including the new contractor or the private corporation if it operates a gaseous diffusion plant without a contractor) shall—

(A)offer employment to non-management employees of the predecessor contractor to the extent that their jobs still exist or they are qualified for new jobs, and

(B)abide by the terms of the predecessor contractor’s collective bargaining agreement until the agreement expires or a new agreement is signed.

(5)In the event of a plant closing or mass layoff (as such terms are defined in section 2101(a)(2) and (3) of title 29) at either of the gaseous diffusion plants, the Secretary of Energy shall treat any adversely affected employee of an operating contractor at either plant who was an employee at such plant on July 1, 1993, as a Department of Energy employee for purposes of section 3161 and 3162 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 (42 U.S.C. 7274h–7274i).

(6)(A)The Secretary and the private corporation shall cause the post-retirement health benefits plan provider (or its successor) to continue to provide benefits for eligible persons, as described under subparagraph (B), employed by an operating contractor at either of the gaseous diffusion plants in an economically efficient manner and at substantially the same level of coverage as eligible retirees are entitled to receive on the privatization date.

(B)Persons eligible for coverage under subparagraph (A) shall be limited to:

(i)persons who retired from active employment at one of the gaseous diffusion plants on or before the privatization date as vested participants in a pension plan maintained either by the Corporation’s operating contractor or by a contractor employed prior to July 1, 1993, by the Department of Energy to operate a gaseous diffusion plant; and

(ii)persons who are employed by the Corporation’s operating contractor on or before the privatization date and are vested participants in a pension plan maintained either by the Corporation’s operating contractor or by a contractor employed prior to July 1, 1993, by the Department of Energy to operate a gaseous diffusion plant.

(C)The Secretary shall fund the entire cost of post-retirement health benefits for persons who retired from employment with an operating contractor prior to July 1, 1993.

(D)The Secretary and the Corporation shall fund the cost of post-retirement health benefits for persons who retire from employment with an operating contractor on or after July 1, 1993, in proportion to the retired person’s years and months of service at a gaseous diffusion plant under their respective management.

(7)(A)Any suit under this subsection alleging a violation of an agreement between an employer and a labor organization shall be brought in accordance with section 185 1 of title 29.

(B)Any charge under this subsection alleging an unfair labor practice violative of section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) shall be pursued in accordance with section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160).

(C)Any suit alleging a violation of any provision of this subsection, to the extent it does not allege a violation of the National Labor Relations Act [29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.], may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction over the parties, without regard to the amount in controversy or the citizenship of the parties.

(8)Continuity of benefits.—

To the extent appropriations are provided in advance for this purpose or are otherwise available, not later than 30 days after August 8, 2005, the Secretary shall implement such actions as are necessary to ensure that any employee who—

(A)is involved in providing infrastructure or environmental remediation services at the Portsmouth, Ohio, or the Paducah, Kentucky, Gaseous Diffusion Plant;

(B)has been an employee of the Department of Energy’s predecessor management and integrating contractor (or its first or second tier subcontractors), or of the Corporation, at the Portsmouth, Ohio, or the Paducah, Kentucky, facility; and

(C)was eligible as of April 1, 2005, to participate in or transfer into the Multiple Employer Pension Plan or the associated multiple employer retiree health care benefit plans, as defined in those plans,

shall continue to be eligible to participate in or transfer into such pension or health care benefit plans.

(b)Former Federal employees

(1)(A)An employee of the Corporation that was subject to either the Civil Service Retirement System (referred to in this section as “CSRS”) or the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (referred to in this section as “FERS”) on the day immediately preceding the privatization date shall elect—

(i)to retain the employee’s coverage under either CSRS or FERS, as applicable, in lieu of coverage by the Corporation’s retirement system, or

(ii)to receive a deferred annuity or lump-sum benefit payable to a terminated employee under CSRS or FERS, as applicable.

(B)An employee that makes the election under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall have the option to transfer the balance in the employee’s Thrift Savings Plan account to a defined contribution plan under the Corporation’s retirement system, consistent with applicable law and the terms of the Corporation’s defined contribution plan.

(2)The Corporation shall pay to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund—

(A)such employee deductions and agency contributions as are required by section 8334, 8422, and 8423 of title 5 for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under either CSRS or FERS pursuant to paragraph (1);

(B)such additional agency contributions as are determined necessary by the Office of Personnel Management to pay, in combination with the sums under subparagraph (A), the “normal cost” (determined using dynamic assumptions) of retirement benefits for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under CSRS pursuant to paragraph (1), with the concept of “normal cost” being used consistent with generally accepted actuarial standards and principles; and

(C)such additional amounts, not to exceed two percent of the amounts under subparagraphs (A) and (B), as are determined necessary by the Office of Personnel Management to pay the cost of administering retirement benefits for employees who retire from the Corporation after the privatization date under either CSRS or FERS, for their survivors, and for survivors of employees of the Corporation who die after the privatization date (which amounts shall be available to the Office of Personnel Management as provided in section 8348(a)(1)(B) of title 5).

(3)The Corporation shall pay to the Thrift Savings Fund such employee and agency contributions as are required or authorized by section 8432 and 8351 of title 5 for employees who elect to retain their coverage under CSRS or FERS pursuant to paragraph (1).

(4)Any employee of the Corporation who was subject to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (referred to in this section as “FEHBP”) on the day immediately preceding the privatization date and who elects to retain coverage under either CSRS or FERS pursuant to paragraph (1) shall have the option to receive health benefits from a health benefit plan established by the Corporation or to continue without interruption coverage under the FEHBP, in lieu of coverage by the Corporation’s health benefit system.

(5)The Corporation shall pay to the Employees Health Benefits Fund—

(A)such employee deductions and agency contributions as are required by section 8906(a)–(f) of title 5 for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under FEHBP pursuant to paragraph (4); and

(B)such amounts as are determined necessary by the Office of Personnel Management under paragraph (6) to reimburse the Office of Personnel Management for contributions under section 8906(g)(1) of title 5 for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under FEHBP pursuant to paragraph (4).

(6)The amounts required under paragraph (5)(B) shall pay the Government contributions for retired employees who retire from the Corporation after the privatization date under either CSRS or FERS, for survivors of such retired employees, and for survivors of employees of the Corporation who die after the privatization date, with said amounts prorated to reflect only that portion of the total service of such employees and retired persons that was performed for the Corporation after the privatization date.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The National Labor Relations Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(3), (7)(C), is act July 5, 1935, ch. 372, 49 Stat. 449, which is classified generally to subchapter II (§ 151 et seq.) of chapter 7 of Title 29, Labor. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 167 of Title 29 and Tables. section 3161 and 3162 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993, referred to in subsec. (a)(5), were formerly classified to section 7274h and 7274i, respectively, of this title and were renumbered section 4604 and 4643, respectively, of Pub. L. 107–314 by Pub. L. 108–136, div. C, title XXXI, § 3141(i)(5)(A)–(C), (14)(A)–(C), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1777, 1779, 1780, and classified to section 2704 and 2733, respectively, of Title 50, War and National Defense, and was repealed and restated as section 6243 and 6263, respectively, of Title 10, Armed Forces, by Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), (b)(1), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1415, 1421, 1458. Section 185 of title 29, referred to in subsec. (a)(7)(A), was in the original “section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 185)”, and has been translated as reading section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. Codification Section was enacted as part of the USEC Privatization Act and also as part of the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996, and not as part of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

2005—Subsec. (a)(8). Pub. L. 109–58 added par. (8). 1996—Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 104–206 which directed the amendment of subsec. (b) by inserting par. (3), was executed to reflect the probable intent of Congress by substituting par. (3) for former par. (3) which read as follows: “The Corporation shall pay to the Thrift Savings Fund such employee and agency contributions as are required by section 8432 of title 5 for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under FERS pursuant to paragraph (1).”

§2297h–8 Employee Protections