(a) Purpose. This subpart prescribes the regulations required by section 5942a of title 5, United States Code, to authorize payment of a separate maintenance allowance to assist an employee assigned to Johnston Island to meet the additional expenses of maintaining family members elsewhere who would normally reside with him or her because they cannot accompany the employee to Johnston Island. This subpart provides rules for determining which employees are eligible to receive the separate maintenance allowance, who qualifies as family members under the program, the method of payment, and payment amounts.

(b) Applicability. This subpart applies to an employee (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2105) in an executive department (as defined in section 101 of title 5, United States Code) or an independent establishment (as defined in section 104 of title 5, United States Code) who is assigned to a post of duty at Johnston Island.

Adult, a term used in the Department of State Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians, Foreign Areas), means a family member who is 21 years of age or older.

Domestic partner means a person in a domestic partnership with an employee or annuitant of the same sex.

Domestic partnership means a committed relationship between two adults of the same sex in which the partners—

(1) Are each other's sole domestic partner and intend to remain so indefinitely;

(2) Maintain a common residence, and intend to continue to do so (or would maintain a common residence but for an assignment abroad or other employment-related, financial, or similar obstacle);

(3) Are at least 18 years of age and mentally competent to consent to contract;

(4) Share responsibility for a significant measure of each other's financial obligations;

(5) Are not married or joined in a civil union to anyone else;

(6) Are not the domestic partner of anyone else;

(7) Are not related in a way that, if they were of opposite sex, would prohibit legal marriage in the U.S. jurisdiction in which the domestic partnership was formed;

(8) Are willing to certify, if required by the agency, that they understand that willful falsification of any documentation required to establish that an individual is in a domestic partnership may lead to disciplinary action and the recovery of the cost of benefits received related to such falsification, as well as constitute a criminal violation under 18 U.S.C. 1001,and,if,will; and

(9) Are willing promptly to disclose, if required by the agency, any dissolution or material change in the status of the domestic partnership.

Family member means one or more of the following relatives of an employee who would normally reside with the employee except for circumstances warranting the granting of a separate maintenance allowance, but who does not receive from the Government an allowance similar to that granted to the employee and who is not deemed to be a family member of another employee for the purpose of determining the amount of a separate maintenance allowance or similar allowance:

(1) Children who are unmarried and under 21 years of age or who, regardless of age, are incapable of self-support, including natural children, step and adopted children, and those under legal guardianship or custody of the employee, or of the employee's spouse or domestic partner, when they are expected to be under such legal guardianship or custody at least until they reach 21 years of age and when dependent upon and normally residing with the guardian;

(2) Parents (including step and legally adoptive parents) of the employee, or of the employee's spouse or domestic partner, when such parents are at least 51 percent dependent on the employee for support;

(3) Sisters and brothers (including step or adoptive sisters and brothers) of the employee, or of the employee's spouse or domestic partner, when such sisters and brothers are at least 51 percent dependent on the employee for support, unmarried and under 21 years of age, or regardless of age, are incapable of self-support;

(4) Spouse, excluding a spouse independently entitled to and receiving a similar allowance; or

(5) Domestic partner, excluding a domestic partner independently entitled to and receiving a similar allowance.

Johnston Island, also called Johnston Atoll, is a possession of the United States located 717 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Separate maintenance allowance means an allowance to assist an employee assigned to Johnston Island who is compelled by reason of dangerous, notably unhealthful, or excessively adverse living conditions at Johnston Island, or for the convenience of the Government, to meet the additional expense of maintaining family members at a location other than Johnston Island.

(a) The annual rate of the separate maintenance allowance paid to an employee is determined by the number of individuals, including a spouse, a domestic partner, and/or one or more other family members, who are maintained at a location other than Johnston Island.

(b) The annual rates for the separate maintenance allowance paid to employees assigned to Johnston Island shall be the same as the annual rates for the separate maintenance allowance established by the Department of State in its Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians, Foreign Areas). The annual rates shall not vary by location of the separate household.

(c) The annual rates of the separate maintenance allowance shall be adjusted on the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after July 1, 1996 and, subsequently, on the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after the effective date established for adjustment of annual rates for the separate maintenance allowance in the Standardized Regulations (Government Civilians, Foreign Areas).

(a) Separate maintenance allowance rates are paid from the employee's date of arrival at Johnston Island to the employee's date of departure from Johnston Island. No deductions are necessary for details away from Johnston Island or for partial days. The separate maintenance allowance shall be computed and paid at daily rates as follows:

(1) Divide the annual rate of payment by the number of days in the applicable calendar year to obtain a daily rate (counting one half-cent and over as a whole cent);

(2) Multiply the daily rate by 14 to obtain a biweekly rate; and

(3) Multiply the daily rate by the number of days involved to obtain the rate for any period.

(b) A separate maintenance allowance is not part of an employee's rate of basic pay for any purpose.

(c) The rate for any pay period shall be computed at the daily rate applicable on the first day of that pay period.

Agencies with employees stationed at Johnston Island may require reasonable verification of relationship and dependency.

So that the Office of Personnel Management can evaluate agencies' use of this authority and provide the Congress and others with information regarding the use of a nonforeign separate maintenance allowance, each agency shall maintain such records and submit to the Office of Personnel Management reports and data as requested.