§ 322. — Special pay: 15year career status bonus for members entering service on or after August 1, 1986.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 37USC322]
TITLE 37--PAY AND ALLOWANCES OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES
CHAPTER 5--SPECIAL AND INCENTIVE PAYS
Sec. 322. Special pay: 15-year career status bonus for members
entering service on or after August 1, 1986
(a) Availability of Bonus.--The Secretary concerned shall pay a
bonus under this section to an eligible career bonus member if the
member--
(1) elects to receive the bonus under this section; and
(2) executes a written agreement (prescribed by the Secretary
concerned) to remain continuously on active duty until the member
has completed 20 years of active-duty service creditable under
section 1405 of title 10.
(b) Eligible Career Bonus Member Defined.--In this section, the term
``eligible career bonus member'' means a member of a uniformed service
serving on active duty who--
(1) first became a member on or after August 1, 1986; and
(2) has completed 15 years of active duty in the uniformed
services (or has received notification under subsection (e) that the
member is about to complete that duty).
(c) Election Method.--An election under subsection (a)(1) shall be
made in such form and within such period as the Secretary concerned may
prescribe. An election under that subsection is irrevocable.
(d) Amount of Bonus; Payment.--(1) A bonus under this section shall
be equal to $30,000.
(2) A member electing to receive the bonus under this section shall
elect one of the following payment options:
(A) A single lump sum of $30,000.
(B) Two installments of $15,000 each.
(C) Three installments of $10,000 each.
(D) Four installments of $7,500 each.
(E) Five installments of $6,000 each.
(3) If a member elects installment payments under paragraph (2), the
second installment (and subsequent installments, as applicable) shall be
paid on the earlier of the following dates:
(A) The annual anniversary date of the payment of the first
installment.
(B) January 15 of each succeeding calendar year.
(4) The lump sum payment of the bonus, and the first installment
payment in the case of members who elect to receive the bonus in
installments, shall be paid to an eligible career bonus member not later
than the first month that begins on or after the date that is 60 days
after the date on which the Secretary concerned receives from the member
the election required under subsection (a)(1) and the written agreement
required under subsection (a)(2), if applicable.
(e) Notification of Eligibility.--(1) The Secretary concerned shall
transmit to each member who meets the definition of eligible career
bonus member a written notification of the opportunity of the member to
elect to receive a bonus under this section. The Secretary shall provide
the notification not later than 180 days before the date on which the
member will complete 15 years of active duty.
(2) The notification shall include the following:
(A) The procedures for electing to receive the bonus.
(B) An explanation of the effects under sections 1401a, 1409,
and 1410 of title 10 that such an election has on the computation of
any retired or retainer pay that the member may become eligible to
receive.
(f) Repayment of Bonus.--(1) If a person paid a bonus under this
section fails to complete a period of active duty beginning on the date
on which the election of the person under subsection (a)(1) is received
and ending on the date on which the person completes 20 years of active-
duty service as described in subsection (a)(2), the person shall refund
to the United States the amount that bears the same ratio to the amount
of the bonus payment as the uncompleted part of that period of active-
duty service bears to the total period of such service.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), an 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 the agreement or this subsection.
(Added Pub. L. 106-65, div. A, title VI, Sec. 642(a), Oct. 5, 1999, 113
Stat. 662; amended Pub. L. 107-107, div. A, title VI, Sec. 620(a), Dec.
28, 2001, 115 Stat. 1138.)
Amendments
2001--Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 107-107, Sec. 620(a)(1), substituted
``equal to $30,000'' for ``paid in a single lump sum of $30,000''.
Subsec. (d)(2) to (4). Pub. L. 107-107, Sec. 620(a)(2), (3), added
pars. (2) and (3), redesignated former par. (2) as (4), and substituted
therein ``The lump sum payment of the bonus, and the first installment
payment in the case of members who elect to receive the bonus in
installments,'' for ``The bonus''.
Effective Date
Section effective Oct. 1, 1999, see section 644 of Pub. L. 106-65,
set out as an Effective Date of 1999 Amendment note under section 1401a
of Title 10, Armed Forces.
Application to Existing Agreements
Pub. L. 107-107, div. A, title VI, Sec. 620(b), Dec. 28, 2001, 115
Stat. 1139, provided that: ``The Secretary concerned (as defined in
section 101(5) of title 37, United States Code) shall extend to each
member of the uniformed services who has executed the written agreement
required by subsection (a)(2) of section 322 of such title before the
date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 28, 2001], but who has not
received the lump sum payment by that date, an opportunity to make the
election authorized by subsection (d) of such section, as amended by
this section.''
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in title 10 sections 1401a, 1409, 1410.
