5 U.S.C. § 5725: Transportation expenses…

§5725 Transportation Expenses; Employees Assigned to Danger Areas

Title 5 › PART III — EMPLOYEES › Subpart D — Pay and Allowances › CHAPTER 57 — TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, AND SUBSISTENCE › SUBCHAPTER II — TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES; NEW APPOINTEES, STUDENT TRAINEES, AND TRANSFERRED EMPLOYEES › § 5725

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The government can pay to move an employee’s immediate family, household goods, personal items, and household pets when the employee is sent to a place the agency head says is inside a zone where family members must be evacuated or are not allowed to go. This can happen when military or other reasons create imminent danger to life or property, or when living conditions seriously harm the family’s health, safety, or housing. The agency head will make the rules. The employee may pick where the family goes. If the employee cannot pick, the family may choose. If that choice is inside a restricted zone, the employee or family can name a different place. If the employee is sent to a duty station where the family is allowed to live, the government can pay to bring the family and their household goods from the chosen location back to the duty station. Costs for shipping and any quarantine of household pets are included. Payments for pets follow agency rules and, as much as possible, should match the rules under 37 U.S.C. 453(c) and (d) about types, size, and number of pets.

Title 5, §5725

Government Organization and Employees, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)When an employee of the Government is on duty, or is transferred or assigned to duty, at a place designated by the head of the agency concerned as inside a zone—

(1)from which his immediate family should be evacuated; or

(2)to which they are not permitted to accompany him;

because of military or other reasons which create imminent danger to life or property, or adverse living conditions which seriously affect the health, safety, or accommodations of the immediate family, Government funds may be used to transport his immediate family and household goods, personal effects, and family household pets, under regulations prescribed by the head of the agency, to a location designated by the employee. When circumstances prevent the employee from designating a location, or it is administratively impracticable to determine his intent, the immediate family may designate the location. When the designated location is inside a zone to which movement of families is prohibited under this subsection, the employee or his immediate family may designate an alternate location.

(b)When the employee is assigned to a duty station from which his immediate family is not excluded by the restrictions in subsection (a) of this section, Government funds may be used to transport his immediate family and household goods and personal effects from the designated or alternate location to the duty station.

(c)(1)The expenses authorized under subsection (a) shall, with respect to the transport of family household pets, include the expenses for the shipment of and the payment of any quarantine costs for such pets.

(2)Any payment or reimbursement under this section in connection with the transport of family household pets shall be subject to terms and conditions which—

(A)the head of the agency shall by regulation prescribe; and

(B)shall, to the extent practicable, be the same as would apply under regulations prescribed under subsections (c) and (d) of section 453 of title 37 in connection with the transport of family household pets of members of the uniformed services, including regulations relating to the types, size, and number of pets for which such payment or reimbursement may be provided.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 73b–1(d).Sept. 23, 1950, ch. 1010, § 1(c), 64 Stat. 985. The word “employee” is substituted for “civilian officers and employees” in view of the definition of “employee” in section 5721 and 2105. 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

2022—Subsec. (c)(2)(B). Pub. L. 117–263 substituted “subsections (c) and (d) of section 453” for “section 476(b)(1)(H)(iii)”. 2013—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 112–239, § 1106(1), substituted “, personal effects, and family household pets,” for “and personal effects,” in concluding provisions. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 112–239, § 1106(2), added subsec. (c). 1998—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105–264 substituted “Government” for “United States” in introductory provisions.