33 USC § 3079a - Treatment of commission in commissioned officer corps as employment in Administration for purposes of certain hiring decisions

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t33/s3079a"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "33 USC § 3079a - Treatment of commission in commissioned officer corps as employment in Administration for purposes of certain hiring decisions"
title_number: 33
title_name: "NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS"
section_number: "3079a"
section_name: "Treatment of commission in commissioned officer corps as employment in Administration for purposes of certain hiring decisions"
chapter_number: 43
chapter_name: "NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION COMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS"
subchapter_number: "V"
subchapter_name: "RIGHTS AND BENEFITS"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 107–372, title II, § 269A, as added Pub. L. 116–259, title II, § 209(a), Dec. 23, 2020, 134 Stat. 1168.)"
---


# § 3079a. Treatment of commission in commissioned officer corps as employment in Administration for purposes of certain hiring decisions

**(a)** **In general** In any case in which the Secretary accepts an application for a position of employment with the Administration and limits consideration of applications for such position to applications submitted by individuals serving in a career or career-conditional position in the competitive service within the Administration, the Secretary shall deem an officer who has served as an officer in the commissioned officer corps of the Administration for at least three years to be serving in a career or career-conditional position in the competitive service within the Administration for purposes of such limitation.

**(b)** **Career appointments** If the Secretary selects an application submitted by an officer described in subsection (a) for a position described in such subsection, the Secretary shall give such officer a career or career-conditional appointment in the competitive service, as appropriate.

**(c)** **Competitive service defined** section 2102 of title 5

In this section, the term “competitive service” has the meaning given the term in .

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**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 107–372, title II, § 269A, as added Pub. L. 116–259, title II, § 209(a), Dec. 23, 2020, 134 Stat. 1168.)