Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 92 Part 1.djvu/234

 92 STAT. 180

Protection period, termination. Return-payment agreement.

PUBLIC LAW 95-250—MAR. 27, 1978 benefit (without reduction for earnings or other benefits) which is payable, or would be payable if the employee were eligible, for the week in which the application was filed: Provided, That for a seasonal employee the amount so calculated, plus the amount of vacation replacement benefits applicable for that year shall be multiplied by the number of weeks in said employee's usual season, as determined in section 207(c), and the result divided by fifty-two. (c) The number of weeks of severance pay shall be equal to one week for each month of the employee's creditable service up to a maximum of seventy-two weeks: Provided, That the severance payment to any employee shall not exceed the total amount of the weekly layoff and vacation replacement benefits which would have been payable if said employee were to be eligible for such benefits continuously from the week of application until the end of the applicable period of protection (or, in the case of an employee described in the final proviso of subsection (a), until the earlier of said employee's sixty-fifth birthday or September 30, 1984), calculated on the basis of the weekly amounts of such benefits as of the date of application for severance pay. (d) Acceptance of severance pay terminates the affected employee's period of protection and makes said employee ineligible thereafter for all other forms of terminal pay and for the protections provided in section 204, except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act. (e) Before making a severance payment to an employee, the Secretary shall obtain said employee's written agreement that, upon resumption of employment in the industry within Humboldt and Del Norte Counties and the counties adjacent thereto in the State of California prior to September 30, 1980, or such later date established by the Secretary with respect to said employee pursuant to section 203, said employee Avill return it in weekly installments equal to a specified percentage of the employee's earnings in the industry, which the Secretary shall set at a reasonable level. The agreement shall include authorization for the Secretary to arrange with an employer for withholding of the applicable amounts from the employee's pay. SHORT-SERVICE EMPLOYEES

Benefits, ineligibility.

Severance pay.

'*' *

SEC. 209. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, an affected employee as defined in this title shall be ineligible for any benefit under this title except as provided in this section if: (1) said employee will not reach age sixty before October 1, 1984; and (2) said employee as of the date of becoming an affected employee, does not have service credit for pension purposes of at least five full years under a pension plan contributed to by industry employers. (b) An affected employee described in subsection (a) shall be paid severance pay in accordance with this section if said employee meets the requirements of section 208(a). (c) Said employee shall be paid a severance payment equal to forty times the hourly wage rate applicable at the time of application for severance pay to the highest paid job held by said employee, other than by temporary assignment, during calendar year 1977, with the employee's last affected employer for each one hundred and seventythree hours for which said employee performed work for affected employers.

�