peace corps volunteers

peace corps volunteers Sec. 5. (a) The President may enroll in the Peace Corps for service abroad qualified citizens and nationals of the United States (referred to in this Act as “volunteers”). The terms and conditions of the enrollment, training, compensation, hours of work, benefits, leave, termination, and all other terms and conditions of the service of volunteers shall be exclusively those set forth in this Act and those consistent therewith which the President may prescribe; and, except as provided in this Act, volunteers shall not be deemed officers or employees or otherwise in the service or employment of, or holding office under, the Ignited States for any purpose. In carrying out this subsection no political test shall be required or taken into consideration, nor shall there be any discrimination against any person on account of race, creed, or color. (b) Volunteers shall be provided with such living, travel, and leave allowances, and such housing, transportation, supplies, equipment, subsistence, and clothing as the President may determine to be necessary for their maintenance and to insure their health and their capacity to serve effectively. Transportation and travel allowances may also be provided, in such circumstances as the President may determine, for applicants for enrollment to or from places of training and places of enrollment, and for former volunteers from places of termination to their homes in the United States. (c) Volunteers shall be entitled to receive termination payments at a rate not to exceed $75 for each month of satisfactory service as determined by the President. The termination payment of each volunteer shall be payable at the termination of his service, or may be paid during the course of his service to the volunteer, to members of his family or to others, under such circumstances as the President may determine. In the event of the volunteer’s death during the period of his service, the amount of any unpaid termination payment shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of section 61f of title 5 of the United States Code. (d) Volunteers shall be deemed to be employees of the United States Government for the purposes of the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (39 Stat. 742), as amended: Provided, however, That entitlement to disability compensation payments under that Act shall commence on the day after the date of termination of service. For the purposes of that Act— (1) volunteers shall be deemed to be receiving monthly pay at the lowest rate provided for grade 7 of the general schedule established by the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, and volunteer leaders (referred to in section 6 of this Act) shall be deemed to be receiving monthly pay at the lowest rate provided for grade 11 of such general schedule; and (2) any injury suffered by a volunteer during any time when he is located abroad shall be deemed to have been sustained while in the performance of his duty and any disease contracted during such time shall be deemed to have been proximately caused by his employment, unless such injury or disease is 75 Stat. 614caused by willful misconduct of the volunteer or by the volunteer’s intention to bring about the injury or death of himself or of another, or unless intoxication of the injured volunteer is the proximate cause of the injury or death. (e) Volunteers shall receive such health care during their service, and such health examinations and immunization preparatory to their service, as the President may deem necessary or appropriate. Subject to such conditions as the President may prescribe, such health care, examinations, and immunization may be provided for volunteers in any facility of any agency of the United States Government, and in such cases the appropriation for maintaining and operating such facility shall be reimbursed from appropriations available under this Act. (f) (1) Any period of satisfactory service of a volunteer under this Act shall be credited in connection with subsequent employment in the same manner as a like period of civilian employment by the United States Government— (A) for the purposes of the Civil Service Retirement Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. 2251, et seq.), section 852(a)(1) of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1092(a)(1)), and every other Act establishing a retirement system for civilian employees of any United States Government agency; and (B) except as otherwise determined by the President, for the purposes of determining seniority, reduction in force, and layoff rights, leave entitlement, and other rights and privileges based upon length of service under the laws administered by Civil Service Commission, the Foreign Service Act of 1946, and every other Act establishing or governing terms and conditions of service of civilian employees of the United States Government: Provided, That service of a volunteer shall not be credited toward completion of any probationary or trial period or completion of any service requirement for career appointment. (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection, volunteers and volunteer leaders shall be deemed to be receiving compensation during their service at the respective rates of termination payments payable under sections 5(c) and 6(1) of this Act. (g) The President may detail or assign volunteers or otherwise make them available to any entity referred to in paragraph (1) of section 10(a) on such terms and conditions as he may determine: Provided, however, That any volunteer so detailed or assigned shall continue to be entitled to the allowances, benefits and privileges of volunteers authorized under or pursuant to this Act. (h) Volunteers shall be deemed employees of the United States Government for the purposes of the Federal Tort Claims Act and any other Federal tort liability statute, and for the purposes of section 1 of the Act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 750), as amended (22 U.S.C. 214). (i) The service of a volunteer may be terminated at any time at the pleasure of the President. (j) Upon enrollment in the Peace Corps, every volunteer shall take the oath prescribed for persons appointed to any office of honor or profit by section 1757 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (5 U.S.C. 16), and shall swear (or affirm) that he does not advocate the overthrow of our constitutional form of government in the United States, and that he is not a member of an organization that advocates the overthrow of our constitutional form of government in the United States, knowing that such organization so advocates.