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Title 5, Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-102

§2905 Oath; Renewal

Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart A — General Provisions › CHAPTER 29 — COMMISSIONS, OATHS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS › SUBCHAPTER I — COMMISSIONS, OATHS, AND RECORDS › § 2905

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

If an Executive agency employee or a District of Columbia government worker took the oath required by section 3331 when first hired, they do not have to take the oath again because of a change in job status, as long as they keep working continuously in the same agency — unless the agency head, the Secretary of a military department for that department’s employees, or the DC Commissioners decide the public interest requires a new oath. Someone hired as an employee of a House of Congress who took the oath required by section 3331 likewise does not need to retake the oath while their service for that House stays continuous.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §2905

Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)An employee of an Executive agency or an individual employed by the government of the District of Columbia who, on original appointment, subscribed to the oath of office required by section 3331 of this title is not required to renew the oath because of a change in status so long as his service is continuous in the agency in which he is employed, unless, in the opinion of the head of the Executive agency, the Secretary of a military department with respect to an employee of his department, or the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the public interest so requires.
(b)An individual who, on appointment as an employee of a House of Congress, subscribed to the oath of office required by section 3331 of this title is not required to renew the oath so long as his service as an employee of that House of Congress is continuous.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large (a)5 U.S.C. 17b.Aug. 14, 1937, ch. 624, 50 Stat. 640.Nov. 22, 1943, ch. 303, 57 Stat. 591. (b)5 U.S.C. 17c.Mar. 28, 1955, ch. 17, 69 Stat. 14. In subsection (a), the word “civilian” is omitted as unnecessary because of the definition of “employee” in section 2105. The words “Executive agency” are coextensive with and substituted for “executive departments and independent establishments of the United States” because of the definition of “Executive agency” in section 105. The words “the Secretary of a military department with respect to an employee of his department” are inserted to preserve the application of the source law. Before enactment of the National Security Act

Amendments

of 1949 (63 Stat. 578), the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force were Executive departments. The National Security Act

Amendments

of 1949 established the Department of Defense as an Executive Department including the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force as military departments, not as Executive departments. However, the source law for this section, which was in effect in 1949, remained applicable to the Secretaries of the military departments by virtue of section 12(g) of the National Security Act

Amendments

of 1949 (63 Stat. 591), which is set out in the reviser’s note for section 301. Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 2905

Title 5, Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102