CLARIFICATION OF JURISDICTION OF FOREIGN SERVICE GRIEVANCE BOARD.

SEC. 181. CLARIFICATION OF JURISDICTION OF FOREIGN SERVICE GRIEVANCE BOARD. (a) Board Decisions.— Section 1107(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4137(d)) is amended— (1) by inserting “(1)” after “(d)”; and (2) by adding at the end the following: “(2) A recommendation under paragraph (1) shall, for purposes of section 1110 of this Act, be considered a final action upon the expiration of the 30-day period referred to in such paragraph, except to the extent that it is rejected by the Secretary by an appropriate written decision. “(3) (A) If the Secretary makes a written decision under paragraph (1) rejecting a recommendation in whole or in part on the basis of a determination that implementing such recommendation would be contrary to law, the Secretary snail, within the 30-day period referred to in such paragraph— “(i) submit a copy of such decision to the Board; and “(ii) request that the Board reconsider its recommendation or, if less than the entirety is rejected, that the Board reconsider the portion rejected. “(B) (i) Within 30 days after receiving a request under subparagraph (A), the Board shall, after reviewing the Secretary’s decision, make a recommendation to the Secretary either confirming, modifying, or vacating its original recommendation or, if less than the entirety was rejected, the portion involved. “(ii) Reconsideration under this subparagraph shall be limited to the question of whether implementing the Board’s original recommendation, either in whole or in part, as applicable, would be contrary to law. “(C) A recommendation made under subparagraph (B) shall be considered a final action for purposes of section 1110 of this Act, and shall be implemented by the Secretary.”. (b) Board Recommendations.— The first sentence of section 1107(d)(1) of such Act (as amended by subsection (a) of this section) is amended by inserting “, tenure” immediately after “relates directly to promotion”. (c) Career Appointments.— Section 306 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 3946) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: “(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Secretary or the Foreign Service Grievance Board under section 1107 of this Act.”. 101 STAT. 1364 (d) Separation for Cause.— Section 610(a)(2) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4010(a)(2)) is amended by adding after the first sentence the following new sentence: “If such cause is not established at such hearing, the Grievance Board shall have the authority to direct the Department to pay reasonable attorneys fees to the extent and in the manner provided by section 1107(b)(5) of this Act.”. (e) Application.— The amendments made by this section shall not apply with respect to any grievance in which the Board has issued a final decision pursuant to section 1107 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4137) before the date of enactment of this Act.