Title 5 — Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73not60
§5583 Payment of Money Due; Settlement of Accounts
Title 5 › Part III— EMPLOYEES › Subpart D— Pay and Allowances › Chapter 55— PAY ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter VIII— SETTLEMENT OF ACCOUNTS › § 5583
Summary
When an employee dies, the employer must pay any money owed to the person the employee named as beneficiary, or if there is none, to the employee’s widow or widower. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management can make rules for settling these payments, but the District of Columbia pays its own employees’ accounts and government corporations may pay theirs.
Full Legal Text
Title 5, §5583
Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Under such regulations as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management may prescribe, the employing agency shall pay money due a deceased employee to the beneficiary designated by the employee under section 5582(b) of this title, or, if none, to the widow or widower of the employee.
(b)The Director may by regulation prescribe the method for settlement of accounts payable under subsection (a) of this section. However—
(1)accounts of employees of the government of the District of Columbia shall be paid by the District of Columbia; and
(2)accounts of employees of Government corporations or mixed ownership Government corporations may be paid by the corporations.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 61h. Aug. 3, 1950, ch. 518, § 3, 64 Stat. 396.Apr. 30, 1954, ch. 177, § 1, 68 Stat. 64. In subsection (a), the word “officer” is omitted as included in “employee”. 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
1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–316, § 202(b)(1), substituted “Director of the Office of Personnel Management” for “Comptroller General of the United States”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–316, § 202(b)(2), substituted “The Director may by regulation prescribe the method for settlement of accounts payable under subsection (a) of this section.” for “Except as the Comptroller General may by regulation otherwise authorize or direct, accounts not payable under subsection (a) of this section are payable on settlement of the General Accounting Office.” 1979—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–70 struck out par. (2) providing that accounts of the employees of the Canal Zone Government be paid by the Canal Zone Government, and redesignated par. (3) as (2).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–70 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 3304 of Pub. L. 96–70, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 3601 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
5 U.S.C. § 5583
Title 5 — Government Organization and Employees
Last Updated
Apr 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60