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Title 5 — Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73

§5728 Travel and transportation expenses; vacation leave

Title 5 › Part PART III— - EMPLOYEES › Subpart Subpart D— - Pay and Allowances › Chapter CHAPTER 57— - TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, AND SUBSISTENCE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES; NEW APPOINTEES, STUDENT TRAINEES, AND TRANSFERRED EMPLOYEES › § 5728

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Agencies must pay an employee’s round-trip travel and the travel of their immediate family (but not household goods) from a post outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii back to the employee’s actual residence at the time of appointment or transfer. That payment is made after the employee finishes an agreed period of service abroad and is returning home to take leave before starting another tour abroad, as long as the employee signs a new written agreement before leaving the post. For Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate for a fixed term, the agency must pay the same travel after each 2 years of service when the person returns home to take leave before serving at least 2 more years. For jobs in Alaska or Hawaii, an agency may pay the same travel to recruit or keep staff, but only for up to two round trips that begin within 5 years after the start of consecutive tours in Alaska or Hawaii. This does not apply to Foreign Service appropriations.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §5728

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Under regulations prescribed under section 5738 of this title, an agency shall pay from its appropriations the expenses of round-trip travel of an employee, and the transportation of his immediate family, but not household goods, from his post of duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii to the place of his actual residence at the time of appointment or transfer to the post of duty, after he has satisfactorily completed an agreed period of service outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii and is returning to his actual place of residence to take leave before serving another tour of duty at the same or another post of duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii under a new written agreement made before departing from the post of duty.
(b)Under regulations prescribed under section 5738 of this title, an agency shall pay from its appropriations the expenses of round-trip travel of an employee of the Government appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term fixed by statute, and of transportation of his immediate family, but not household goods, from his post of duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii to the place of his actual residence at the time of appointment to the post of duty, after he has satisfactorily completed each 2 years of service outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii and is returning to his actual place of residence to take leave before serving at least 2 more years of duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii.
(c)(1)Under regulations prescribed under section 5738 of this title, an agency may pay, subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, the expenses described in paragraph (2) of this subsection in any case in which the head of the agency determines that the payment of such expenses is necessary for the purpose of recruiting or retaining an employee for service of a tour of duty at a post of duty in Alaska or Hawaii.
(2)The expenses payable under paragraph (1) of this subsection are the expenses of round-trip travel of an employee, and the transportation of his immediate family, but not household goods, from his post of duty in Alaska or Hawaii to the place of his actual residence at the time of appointment or transfer to the post of duty, incurred after he has satisfactorily completed an agreed period of service in Alaska or Hawaii and in returning to his actual place of residence to take leave before serving another tour of duty at the same or another post of duty in Alaska or Hawaii under a new written agreement made before departing from the post of duty.
(3)The payment of expenses of any employee and the transportation of his family under paragraph (1) of this subsection is limited to the expenses of travel and transportation incurred for not more than two round trips commenced within 5 years after the date the employee first commences any period of consecutive tours of duty in Alaska or Hawaii.
(d)This section does not apply to appropriations for the Foreign Service of the United States.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large (a)5 U.S.C. 73b–3(a) (3d proviso).Aug. 31, 1954, ch. 1155 (1st proviso), 68 Stat. 1008. (b)5 U.S.C. 73b–3(a) (4th proviso).Sept. 2, 1958, Pub. L. 85–858, 72 Stat. 1274. The first 14 words of subsections (a) and (b), and subsection (c), are added on authority of former section 73b–3(a) (less 3d–6th provisos), which is carried into section 5722. Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1998—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105–264 substituted “an employee of the Government” for “an employee of the United States”. 1996—Subsecs. (a) to (c)(1). Pub. L. 104–201, § 1723(b)(1), substituted “Under

Regulations

prescribed under section 5738 of this title” for “Under such

Regulations

as the President may prescribe”. 1982—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 97–253, § 351(a), inserted “, Alaska, and Hawaii” after “continental United States” wherever appearing. Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 97–253, § 351(b), added subsec. (c) and redesignated former subsec. (c) as (d).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–201 effective 180 days after Sept. 23, 1996, see section 1725(a) of Pub. L. 104–201, set out as a note under section 5722 of this title.

Effective Date

of 1982 Amendment Pub. L. 97–253, title III, § 351(c), (d), Sept. 8, 1982, 96 Stat. 800, as amended by Pub. L. 97–346, § 3(m), Oct. 15, 1982, 96 Stat. 1649, provided that: “(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the

Amendments

made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect with respect to expenses incurred after the date of enactment of this Act [Sept. 8, 1982] for round-trip travel (commenced after such date) of an employee or transportation of his immediate family from his post of duty to the place of his actual residence at the time of appointment or transfer to the post of duty. “(2) The

Amendments

made by this section [amending this section] shall not apply to any employee who is serving a tour of duty at a post of duty in Alaska or Hawaii on the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 8, 1982] during—“(A) such tour of duty, and “(B) any other consecutive tour of duty following such tour of duty. “(d) For the purposes of subsection (c), the term ‘employee’ shall have the same meaning as provided in section 5721(2) of title 5, United States Code.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 5728

Title 5 — Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73