§7371 — Title 5 Government Organization and Employees | U.S. Code

§7371 Mandatory removal from employment of law enforcement officers convicted of felonies

Title 5 › Part PART III— - EMPLOYEES › Subpart Subpart F— - Labor-Management and Employee Relations › Chapter CHAPTER 73— - SUITABILITY, SECURITY, AND CONDUCT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VII— - MANDATORY REMOVAL FROM EMPLOYMENT OF CONVICTED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS › § 7371

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A law enforcement officer convicted of a felony must be removed from their law enforcement job on the last day of the first pay period after the agency learns the court entered the conviction. Conviction notice date: the day the agency gets notice a court entered a felony conviction, even if it is appealed. Law enforcement officer: the meaning in sections 8331(20) or 8401(17). An agency may remove someone earlier if it properly uses other removal rules. The person may still be employed in a non-law-enforcement position. If the conviction is overturned on appeal, the removal is undone back to the removal date and the employee gets back pay under section 5596, unless the earlier removal was properly done another way. The agency must give written notice as soon as possible and no later than 5 calendar days after the conviction notice date. The notice must explain the reasons, the removal date, and the appeal procedures under section 7513(b)(2),(3),(4),(c),(d),(e). The employee may only challenge whether they are a law enforcement officer, whether they were convicted of a felony, or whether the conviction was overturned. The removal still occurs on the date required even if notice or appeals are not finished.

Title 5, §7371

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In this section, the term—

(1)“conviction notice date” means the date on which an agency that employs a law enforcement officer has notice that the officer has been convicted of a felony that is entered by a Federal or State court, regardless of whether that conviction is appealed or is subject to appeal; and

(2)“law enforcement officer” has the meaning given that term under section 8331(20) or 8401(17).

(b)Any law enforcement officer who is convicted of a felony shall be removed from employment as a law enforcement officer on the last day of the first applicable pay period following the conviction notice date.

(c)(1)This section does not prohibit the removal of an individual from employment as a law enforcement officer before a conviction notice date if the removal is properly effected other than under this section.

(2)This section does not prohibit the employment of any individual in any position other than that of a law enforcement officer.

(d)If the conviction is overturned on appeal, the removal shall be set aside retroactively to the date on which the removal occurred, with back pay under section 5596 for the period during which the removal was in effect, unless the removal was properly effected other than under this section.

(e)(1)If removal is required under this section, the agency shall deliver written notice to the employee as soon as practicable, and not later than 5 calendar days after the conviction notice date. The notice shall include a description of the specific reasons for the removal, the date of removal, and the procedures made applicable under paragraph (2).

(2)The procedures under section 7513(b)(2), (3), and (4), (c), (d), and (e) shall apply to any removal under this section. The employee may use the procedures to contest or appeal a removal, but only with respect to whether—

(A)the employee is a law enforcement officer;

(B)the employee was convicted of a felony; or

(C)the conviction was overturned on appeal.

(3)A removal required under this section shall occur on the date specified in subsection (b) regardless of whether the notice required under paragraph (1) of this subsection and the procedures made applicable under paragraph (2) of this subsection have been provided or completed by that date.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(3) [title VI, § 639(c)], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–168, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this section [enacting this subchapter] shall take effect 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 21, 2000] and shall apply to any conviction of a felony entered by a Federal or State court on or after that date.”