37 U.S.C. § 316 — Special pay: bonus for members with foreign language proficiency

(a) Availability. The Secretary of the military branch concerned may pay this bonus, subject to subsection (c), to a member who fits at least one of four descriptions: (1) the member works in a uniformed-services specialty that requires proficiency in a foreign language the Secretary has identified as needed for national defense or public health reasons; (2) the member got training, under the Secretary's regulations, meant to build proficiency in such a language; (3) the member is assigned to duty that requires that proficiency; or (4) the member is proficient in a foreign language the service may critically need, as the Secretary decides. (b) Bonus amount and timing. The bonus cannot go over $12,000 for each one-year certification period described in subsection (c). The Secretary may pay it all at once at the start of the period, or in installments during the period. This bonus comes on top of any other pay or allowance the member already gets. (c) Certification of proficiency. To qualify, a member must be certified by the Secretary as proficient in the language the bonus covers. That certification expires at the end of one year, counted from the first day of the first month on or after the certification date. (d) Certification interrupted by a contingency operation. (1) The Secretary may waive the certification requirement and still pay the bonus to a member who is assigned to duty connected to a contingency operation, cannot schedule or finish certification because of that assignment, and otherwise meets the eligibility rules in subsection (a). (2) In that case, the Secretary may treat the date the member was assigned to that duty as if it were the certification date; if a member's certification would expire during that assignment, the Secretary starts the next one-year period on the date the old one expires. (3) A member who gets a bonus this way must still get properly certified within 180 days after being released from the contingency-operation assignment, though the Secretary may extend that deadline under regulations issued under subsection (f). (4) If the member does not get certified before that 180-day period ends, the Secretary may require the member to repay all or part of the bonus, following section 303a(e). (e) Repayment. A member who gets this bonus but does not meet all four eligibility conditions in subsection (a) for the entire certification period must repay the bonus, following section 303a(e). (f) Regulations. This section is carried out under regulations from the Secretary of Defense for the armed forces, the Secretary of Homeland Security for the Coast Guard when it is not part of the Navy, the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Public Health Service's Commissioned Corps, and the Secretary of Commerce for NOAA.