104 STAT. 1660 PUBLIC LAW 101-510—NOV. 5, 1990 "(b)(1) The head of an agency may, in order to recruit or retain highly qualified professional, technical, or administrative personnel, establish a program under which the agency may agree to repay (by direct payments on behalf of the employee) any student loan previously taken out by such employee. "(2) Payments under this section shall be made subject to such terms, limitations, or conditions as may be mutually agreed to by the agency and employee concerned, except that the amount paid by an agency under this section may not exceed— "(A) $6,000 for any employee in any calendar year; or "(B) a total of $40,000 in the case of any employee. "(3) Nothing in this section shall be considered to authorize an agency to pay any amount to reimburse an employee for any repayments made by such employee prior to the agency's entering into an agreement under this section with such employee. "(c)(1) An employee selected to receive benefits under this section must agree in writing, before receiving any such benefit, that the employee will— "(A) remain in the service of the agency for a period specified in the agreement (not less than 3 years), unless involuntarily separated; and "(B) if separated involuntarily on account of misconduct, or voluntarily, before the end of the period specified in the agreement, repay to the Government the amount of any benefits received by such employee from that agency under this section. "(2) The payment agreed to under paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection may not be required of an employee who leaves the service of such employee's agency voluntarily to enter into the service of any other agency unless the head of the agency that authorized the benefits notifies the employee before the effective date of such employee's entrance into the service of the other agency that pay- ment will be required under this subsection. "(3) If an employee who is involuntarily separated on account of misconduct or who (excluding any employee relieved of liability under paragraph (2) of this subsection) is voluntarily separated before completing the required period of service fails to repay the amount agreed to under paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, a sum equal to the amount outstanding is recoverable by the Government from the employee (or such employee's estate, if applicable) by— "(A) setoff against accrued pay, compensation, amount of retirement credit, or other amount due the employee from the Government; and "(B) such other method as is provided by law for the recovery of amounts owing to the Government. The head of the agency concerned may waive, in whole or in part, a right of recovery under this subsection if it is shown that recovery would be against equity and good conscience or against the public interest, "(4) Any amount repaid by, or recovered from, an individual (or an estate) under this subsection shall be credited to the appropriation account from which the amount involved was originally paid. Any amount so credited shall be merged with other sums in such account and shall be available for the same purposes and period, and subject to the same limitations (if any), as the sums with which merged. "(d) An employee receiving benefits under this section from an agency shall be ineligible for continued benefits under this section from such agency if the employee—
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