Executive Order 10982—Administration of the Act of September 26, 1961, Relating to Evacuation Payments, Assignments, and Allotments, and Other Matters

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the act of September 26, 1961 (75 Stat. 662), and by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1: As used in this order: (a) The term "the act" means the act of September 26, 1961 (Public Law 87-304), 75 Stat. 662. (b) The term "Federal agency"means any executive department of the Government of the United States of America, any agency or independent establishment in the executive branch of the Government, and any corporation wholly owned or controlled by the Government. (c) The term "foreign area" means any area (including the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands) situated outside (1) the United States (including the District of Columbia), (2) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, (3) the Canal Zone and (4) ally territory or possession of the United States. SEC. 2. (a) Except as otherwise provided by section 2(b) and section 3(c) of this order, the Secretary of State in respect of civilian employees of Federal agencies who are located in foreign areas immediately prior to an emergency evacuation, all of the Civil Service Commission in respect of all other civilian employees of Federal agencies, are hereby designated and empowered without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, to perform the functions conferred upon the President by section 3(a), section 3 (b), and section 6(a) of the act (b) The Civil Service Commission is hereby designated and empowered, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, to perform the functions conferred upon the President by the provisions of section 6 of the act with respect to allotments and assignments authorized by section 5 of the act. SEC. 3. The following regulations are hereby prescribed as necessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions, accomplish the purposes, and govern the administration of the act: (a) To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary of State, the Civil Service Commission, and the heads of other Federal agencies shall exercise their authority under the act and this order so that employees of different Federal agencies evacuated from the same geographic area under the same general circumstances may be treated uniformly.. (b) Advance payments of compensation, allowances and differentials, as authorized by section 2 of the act, shall be held to the minimum period during which the order for evacuation is anticipated to continue, and shall in no event be made for a period of more than thirty days. (c) It is hereby determined to be in the interest of the United States that payments of monetary allowances as authorized by section 3 of the act to and for the account of an employee whose evacuation is ordered and who is prevented from performing the duties of his position, under the circumstances set forth in section 3 of the act, should be extended beyond sixty days for not more than one hundred and twenty additional days only upon determination, pursuant to regulations of the head of the Federal agency concerned, that such additional payments are reasonably necessary to maintain a civilian staff available for performance of duty. Such payments of monetary amounts under the authority of section 3 of the act shall be terminated as of such dates as may be determined by the Secretary of State or the Civil Service Commission, as appropriate, but not later than the date on which an employee resumes his duties at the post from which he has been evacuated or is assigned to another position. SEC. 4. (a) The head of each Federal agency shall issue as soon as practicable such regulations as may be necessary and appropriate to carry out his functions under the act and this order. (b) In order to coordinate the policies and procedures of the executive branch of the Government, all regulations of any Federal agency prepared for issuance under the provisions of section 6(c) of the act and section 4(a) of this order shall be submitted for prior approval to the Secretary of State, or to the Civil Service Commission, as may be appropriate, under section 2 of this order. The Secretary of State and the Civil Service Commission shall review such regulations for conformance with the purpose and intent of the act and of the regulations contained in section 3 of this order. No Federal agency shall make any payment under the provisions of the act or this order until such regulations have been approved by the Secretary of State or the Civil Service Commission, as appropriate. JOHN F. KENNEDY THE WHITE HOUSE, December 25, 1961