Title 5Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73

§8119 Notice of injury or death

Title 5 › Part PART III— - EMPLOYEES › Subpart Subpart G— - Insurance and Annuities › Chapter CHAPTER 81— - COMPENSATION FOR WORK INJURIES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERALLY › § 8119

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

An injured employee or someone for them must give notice. For a death believed to be work-related, the eligible beneficiary named in section 8133 or someone for them must give notice. Notice must reach the employee’s immediate supervisor within 30 days by personal delivery or by properly stamped and addressed mail. It must be in writing and include the employee’s name and address; the exact date, hour, and place; the cause or work factors thought to have caused it; and the signer’s name and address.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §8119

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

An employee injured in the performance of his duty, or someone on his behalf, shall give notice thereof. Notice of a death believed to be related to the employment shall be given by an eligible beneficiary specified in section 8133 of this title, or someone on his behalf. A notice of injury or death shall—
(a)be given within 30 days after the injury or death;
(b)be given to the immediate superior of the employee by personal delivery or by depositing it in the mail properly stamped and addressed;
(c)be in writing;
(d)state the name and address of the employee;
(e)state the year, month, day, and hour when and the particular locality where the injury or death occurred;
(f)state the cause and nature of the injury, or, in the case of death, the employment factors believed to be the cause; and
(g)be signed by and contain the address of the individual giving the notice.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large (a)5 U.S.C. 765.Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 458, § 15, 39 Stat. 746. 5 U.S.C. 766.Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 458, § 16, 39 Stat. 746. (b)5 U.S.C. 767.Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 458, § 17, 39 Stat. 746. Subsection (b)(2) is added on authority of former section 770, which is carried into section 8122, to complete the coverage of this section. Administration of this subchapter was transferred to the Secretary of Labor by section 1 of 1950 Reorg. Plan No. 19, 64 Stat. 1271 (see section 8145). 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

1974—Pub. L. 93–416 substituted “or death” for “; failure to give” in section catchline, struck out designation of subsec. (a), redesignated cls. (1) to (7) as (a) to (g), and, as so redesignated, inserted provisions relating to notice of death and substituted “30 days” for “48 hours” in cl. (a), and struck out subsec. (b) relating to allowance of compensation.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1974 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 93–416 effective Sept. 7, 1974, and applicable to any injury or death occurring on or after Sept. 7, 1974, see section 28(a) of Pub. L. 93–416, set out as a note under section 8101 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 8119

Title 5Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73