10 U.S.C. § 1581
Section 1581 · Foreign National Employees Separation Pay Account
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Girouard v. United States (1946)
Most recently applied in American Federation of Government Employees v. Hoffmann (August 1976)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Establishment and Purpose.—There is established on the books of the Treasury an account to be known as the “Foreign National Employees Separation Pay Account, Defense”. The account shall be used for the accumulation of funds to finance obligations of the United States for separation pay for foreign nationals referred to in subsection (e).
(b) Deposits Into Account.—The Secretary of Defense shall deposit into the account from applicable appropriations all amounts obligated for separation pay for foreign nationals referred to in subsection (e).
(c) Payments From Account.—Amounts in the account shall remain available for expenditure in accordance with the purpose for which obligated until expended.
(d) Deobligated Funds.—Any amount in the account that is deobligated shall be available for a period of two years from the date of deobligation for recording, adjusting, and liquidating amounts properly chargeable to the liability of the United States for which the obligation was made. Any such deobligated amount remaining at the end of such two-year period shall be canceled.
(e) Employees Covered.—This section applies only with respect to separation pay of foreign nationals employed by the Department of Defense, and foreign nationals employed by a foreign government for the benefit of the Department of Defense, under any of the following agreements that provide for payment of separation pay:
(1) A contract.
(2) A treaty.
(3) A memorandum of understanding with a foreign nation.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 1581, acts Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 118; Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85–861, §1(34), 72 Stat. 1456; May 29, 1959, Pub. L. 86–36, §3, 73 Stat. 63; Sept. 23, 1959, Pub. L. 86–377, §2, 73 Stat. 701; Oct. 4, 1961, Pub. L. 87–367, title II, §203, 75 Stat. 790; Oct. 11, 1962, Pub. L. 87–793, §1001(b), 76 Stat. 863, provided for appointment of a limited number of civilian research and development personnel and prescribed their relationship to civil service provisions, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 97–295, §1(19)(A), Oct. 12, 1982, 96 Stat. 1290.
Amendments
2001—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 107–107 struck out par. (2) designation and “on or after December 5, 1991,” after “all amounts obligated” and struck out par. (1) which read as follows: “The Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit into the account all amounts that were obligated by the Secretary of Defense before December 5, 1991, and that remain unexpended for separation pay for foreign nationals referred to in subsection (e).”
1994—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 103–337, §346(1), substituted “foreign nationals referred to in subsection (e)” for “foreign national employees of the Department of Defense” wherever appearing.
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 103–337, §346(2), added subsec. (e) and struck out former subsec. (e) which read as follows: “Employees Covered.—This section applies only with respect to separation pay of foreign nationals employed by the Department of Defense under any of the following agreements that provide for payment of separation pay:
“(1) A contract.
“(2) A treaty.
“(3) A memorandum of understanding with a foreign nation.”
1992—Subsec. (b)(1), (2). Pub. L. 102–484 substituted “December 5, 1991,” for “the date of the enactment of this section”.