
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC2297h-8]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
          CHAPTER 23--DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL OF ATOMIC ENERGY
 
            Division B--United States Enrichment Corporation
 
   SUBCHAPTER VIII--UNITED STATES ENRICHMENT CORPORATION PRIVATIZATION
 
Sec. 2297h-8. Employee protections


(a) Contractor employees

    (1) Privatization shall not diminish the accrued, vested pension 
benefits of employees of the Corporation's operating contractor at the 
two gaseous diffusion plants.
    (2) In the event that the private corporation terminates or changes 
the contractor at either or both of the gaseous diffusion plants, the 
plan sponsor or other appropriate fiduciary of the pension plan covering 
employees of the prior operating contractor shall arrange for the 
transfer of all plan assets and liabilities relating to accrued pension 
benefits of such plan's participants and beneficiaries from such plant 
to a pension plan sponsored by the new contractor or the private 
corporation or a joint labor-management plan, as the case may be.
    (3) In addition to any obligations arising under the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), any employer (including the 
private corporation if it operates a gaseous diffusion plant without a 
contractor or any contractor of the private corporation) at a gaseous 
diffusion plant shall--
        (A) abide by the terms of any unexpired collective bargaining 
    agreement covering employees in bargaining units at the plant and in 
    effect on the privatization date until the stated expiration or 
    termination date of the agreement; or
        (B) in the event a collective bargaining agreement is not in 
    effect upon the privatization date, have the same bargaining 
    obligations under section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act 
    (29 U.S.C. 158(d)) as it had immediately before the privatization 
    date.

    (4) If the private corporation replaces its operating contractor at 
a gaseous diffusion plant, the new employer (including the new 
contractor or the private corporation if it operates a gaseous diffusion 
plant without a contractor) shall--
        (A) offer employment to non-management employees of the 
    predecessor contractor to the extent that their jobs still exist or 
    they are qualified for new jobs, and
        (B) abide by the terms of the predecessor contractor's 
    collective bargaining agreement until the agreement expires or a new 
    agreement is signed.

    (5) In the event of a plant closing or mass layoff (as such terms 
are defined in section 2101(a)(2) and (3) of title 29) at either of the 
gaseous diffusion plants, the Secretary of Energy shall treat any 
adversely affected employee of an operating contractor at either plant 
who was an employee at such plant on July 1, 1993, as a Department of 
Energy employee for purposes of sections 7274h and 7274i of this title.
    (6)(A) The Secretary and the private corporation shall cause the 
post-retirement health benefits plan provider (or its successor) to 
continue to provide benefits for eligible persons, as described under 
subparagraph (B), employed by an operating contractor at either of the 
gaseous diffusion plants in an economically efficient manner and at 
substantially the same level of coverage as eligible retirees are 
entitled to receive on the privatization date.
    (B) Persons eligible for coverage under subparagraph (A) shall be 
limited to:
        (i) persons who retired from active employment at one of the 
    gaseous diffusion plants on or before the privatization date as 
    vested participants in a pension plan maintained either by the 
    Corporation's operating contractor or by a contractor employed prior 
    to July 1, 1993, by the Department of Energy to operate a gaseous 
    diffusion plant; and
        (ii) persons who are employed by the Corporation's operating 
    contractor on or before the privatization date and are vested 
    participants in a pension plan maintained either by the 
    Corporation's operating contractor or by a contractor employed prior 
    to July 1, 1993, by the Department of Energy to operate a gaseous 
    diffusion plant.

    (C) The Secretary shall fund the entire cost of post-retirement 
health benefits for persons who retired from employment with an 
operating contractor prior to July 1, 1993.
    (D) The Secretary and the Corporation shall fund the cost of post-
retirement health benefits for persons who retire from employment with 
an operating contractor on or after July 1, 1993, in proportion to the 
retired person's years and months of service at a gaseous diffusion 
plant under their respective management.
    (7)(A) Any suit under this subsection alleging a violation of an 
agreement between an employer and a labor organization shall be brought 
in accordance with section 185 \1\ of title 29.
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    \1\ See References in Text note below.
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    (B) Any charge under this subsection alleging an unfair labor 
practice violative of section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 158) shall be pursued in accordance with section 10 of the 
National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160).
    (C) Any suit alleging a violation of any provision of this 
subsection, to the extent it does not allege a violation of the National 
Labor Relations Act [29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.], may be brought in any 
district court of the United States having jurisdiction over the 
parties, without regard to the amount in controversy or the citizenship 
of the parties.

(b) Former Federal employees

    (1)(A) An employee of the Corporation that was subject to either the 
Civil Service Retirement System (referred to in this section as 
``CSRS'') or the Federal Employees' Retirement System (referred to in 
this section as ``FERS'') on the day immediately preceding the 
privatization date shall elect--
        (i) to retain the employee's coverage under either CSRS or FERS, 
    as applicable, in lieu of coverage by the Corporation's retirement 
    system, or
        (ii) to receive a deferred annuity or lump-sum benefit payable 
    to a terminated employee under CSRS or FERS, as applicable.

    (B) An employee that makes the election under subparagraph (A)(ii) 
shall have the option to transfer the balance in the employee's Thrift 
Savings Plan account to a defined contribution plan under the 
Corporation's retirement system, consistent with applicable law and the 
terms of the Corporation's defined contribution plan.
    (2) The Corporation shall pay to the Civil Service Retirement and 
Disability Fund--
        (A) such employee deductions and agency contributions as are 
    required by sections 8334, 8422, and 8423 of title 5 for those 
    employees who elect to retain their coverage under either CSRS or 
    FERS pursuant to paragraph (1);
        (B) such additional agency contributions as are determined 
    necessary by the Office of Personnel Management to pay, in 
    combination with the sums under subparagraph (A), the ``normal 
    cost'' (determined using dynamic assumptions) of retirement benefits 
    for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under CSRS 
    pursuant to paragraph (1), with the concept of ``normal cost'' being 
    used consistent with generally accepted actuarial standards and 
    principles; and
        (C) such additional amounts, not to exceed two percent of the 
    amounts under subparagraphs (A) and (B), as are determined necessary 
    by the Office of Personnel Management to pay the cost of 
    administering retirement benefits for employees who retire from the 
    Corporation after the privatization date under either CSRS or FERS, 
    for their survivors, and for survivors of employees of the 
    Corporation who die after the privatization date (which amounts 
    shall be available to the Office of Personnel Management as provided 
    in section 8348(a)(1)(B) of title 5).

    (3) The Corporation shall pay to the Thrift Savings Fund such 
employee and agency contributions as are required or authorized by 
sections 8432 and 8351 of title 5 for employees who elect to retain 
their coverage under CSRS or FERS pursuant to paragraph (1).
    (4) Any employee of the Corporation who was subject to the Federal 
Employee Health Benefits Program (referred to in this section as 
``FEHBP'') on the day immediately preceding the privatization date and 
who elects to retain coverage under either CSRS or FERS pursuant to 
paragraph (1) shall have the option to receive health benefits from a 
health benefit plan established by the Corporation or to continue 
without interruption coverage under the FEHBP, in lieu of coverage by 
the Corporation's health benefit system.
    (5) The Corporation shall pay to the Employees Health Benefits 
Fund--
        (A) such employee deductions and agency contributions as are 
    required by section 8906(a)-(f) of title 5 for those employees who 
    elect to retain their coverage under FEHBP pursuant to paragraph 
    (4); and
        (B) such amounts as are determined necessary by the Office of 
    Personnel Management under paragraph (6) to reimburse the Office of 
    Personnel Management for contributions under section 8906(g)(1) of 
    title 5 for those employees who elect to retain their coverage under 
    FEHBP pursuant to paragraph (4).

    (6) The amounts required under paragraph (5)(B) shall pay the 
Government contributions for retired employees who retire from the 
Corporation after the privatization date under either CSRS or FERS, for 
survivors of such retired employees, and for survivors of employees of 
the Corporation who die after the privatization date, with said amounts 
prorated to reflect only that portion of the total service of such 
employees and retired persons that was performed for the Corporation 
after the privatization date.

(Pub. L. 104-134, title III, Sec. 3110, Apr. 26, 1996, 110 Stat. 1321-
340; Pub. L. 104-206, title III, Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 2995.)

                       References in Text

    The National Labor Relations Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(3), 
(7)(C), is act July 5, 1935, ch. 372, 49 Stat. 449, as amended, which is 
classified generally to subchapter II (Sec. 151 et seq.) of chapter 7 of 
Title 29, Labor. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, 
see section 167 of Title 29 and Tables.
    Section 185 of title 29, referred to in subsec. (a)(7)(A), was in 
the original ``section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 185)'', and has been translated as reading section 301 of the 
Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, to reflect the probable intent of 
Congress.

                          Codification

    Section was enacted as part of the USEC Privatization Act and also 
as part of the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act 
of 1996, and not as part of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which 
comprises this chapter.


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 104-206 which directed the amendment 
of subsec. (b) by inserting par. (3), was executed to reflect the 
probable intent of Congress by substituting par. (3) for former par. (3) 
which read as follows: ``The Corporation shall pay to the Thrift Savings 
Fund such employee and agency contributions as are required by section 
8432 of title 5 for those employees who elect to retain their coverage 
under FERS pursuant to paragraph (1).''
