§3704 — Title 5 Government Organization and Employees | U.S. Code

Summary

When a private company worker is sent to work at a federal agency under this program, they are treated as working for the agency while on the assignment. They can keep getting pay and benefits from their company. For certain federal rules and laws, though, they are treated like agency employees (covering things like personnel rules, some criminal and ethics laws, tax and tort rules, and procurement rules). They cannot get their company’s trade secrets or other nonpublic commercial information. The President can set rules for these assignments. If the worker is hurt or dies while doing the assigned duties, they are treated like a federal employee for workers’ compensation. Any insurance or benefit payments they or their family get from the company for the same injury or death are subtracted from the federal compensation. A private company may not bill the federal government for the pay or benefits it provides the worker during the assignment.

Title 5, §3704

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)An employee of a private sector organization assigned to an agency under this chapter is deemed, during the period of the assignment, to be on detail to such agency.

(b)An employee of a private sector organization assigned to an agency under this chapter—

(1)may continue to receive pay and benefits from the private sector organization from which he is assigned;

(2)is deemed, notwithstanding subsection (a), to be an employee of the agency for the purposes of—

(A)chapter 73;

(B)section 201, 203, 205, 207, 208, 209, 603, 606, 607, 643, 654, 1905, and 1913 of title 18;

(C)section 1343, 1344, and 1349(b) of title 31;

(D)the Federal Tort Claims Act and any other Federal tort liability statute;

(E)chapter 131 of this title;

(F)section 1043 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and

(G)chapter 21 of title 41;

(3)may not have access to any trade secrets or to any other nonpublic information which is of commercial value to the private sector organization from which he is assigned; and

(4)is subject to such regulations as the President may prescribe.

(c)An employee of a private sector organization assigned to an agency under this chapter who suffers disability or dies as a result of personal injury sustained while performing duties during the assignment shall be treated, for the purpose of subchapter I of chapter 81, as an employee as defined by section 8101 who had sustained the injury in the performance of duty, except that, if the employee or the employee’s dependents receive from the private sector organization any payment under an insurance policy for which the premium is wholly paid by the private sector organization, or other benefit of any kind on account of the same injury or death, then, the amount of such payment or benefit shall be credited against any compensation otherwise payable under subchapter I of chapter 81.

(d)A private sector organization may not charge the Federal Government, as direct or indirect costs under a Federal contract, the costs of pay or benefits paid by the organization to an employee assigned to an agency under this chapter for the period of the assignment.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Federal Tort Claims Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(D), is title IV of act Aug. 2, 1946, ch. 753, 60 Stat. 842, which was classified principally to chapter 20 (§§ 921, 922, 931–934, 941–946) of former Title 28, Judicial Code and Judiciary. Title IV of act Aug. 2, 1946, was substantially repealed and reenacted as section 1346(b) and 2671 et seq. of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, by act June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 992, the first section of which enacted Title 28. The Federal Tort Claims Act is also commonly used to refer to chapter 171 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure. For complete classification of title IV to the Code, see Tables. For distribution of former sections of Title 28 into the revised Title 28, see Table at the beginning of Title 28. section 1043 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(F), is classified to section 1043 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (b)(2)(E). Pub. L. 117–286 substituted “chapter 131 of this title;” for “the Ethics in Government Act of 1978;”. 2011—Subsec. (b)(2)(G). Pub. L. 111–350 substituted “chapter 21 of title 41” for “section 27 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective 120 days after Dec. 17, 2002, see section 402(a) of Pub. L. 107–347, set out as a note under section 3601 of Title 44, Public Printing and Documents.

§3704 Assignment of employees from private sector organizations