Pub. L. 105-119, tit. I, sec. 405

Sec. 405. (a) An employee who regularly commutes from his or her place of residence in the continental United States to an official duty station in Canada or Mexico shall receive a border equalization adjustment equal to the amount of comparability payments under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, that he or she would receive if assigned to an official duty station within the United States locality pay area closest to the employee’s official duty station. (b) For purposes of this section, the term “employee” shall mean a person who— (1) is an “employee” as defined under section 2105 of title 5, United States Code; and (2) is employed by the United States Department of State, the United States Information Agency, the United States Agency for International Development, or the International Joint Commission, except that the term shall not include members of the Foreign Service as defined by section 103 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Public Law 96–465), section 3903 of title 22, United States Code. (c) An equalization adjustment payable under this section shall be considered basic pay for the same purposes as are comparability payments under section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, and its implementing regulations. (d) The agencies referenced in subsection (c)(2) are authorized to promulgate regulations to carry out the purposes of this section. This title may be cited as the “Department of State and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998”.