§5729 Transportation Expenses; Prior Return of Family

Summary

Under rules made under section 5738, an agency must pay, no more than once before an employee returns to the United States, the cost to move the employee’s immediate family and ship household goods from a post that is outside the continental United States to the family’s actual home. This applies when the employee becomes eligible or when the public interest requires the family’s return for serious humanitarian reasons like illness, death, or circumstances beyond the employee’s control. Under the same rules, if the employee already paid to bring the family and goods back to the United States (for reasons not based on public interest) before the employee returned, the agency must reimburse the employee once he becomes eligible. This does not apply to Foreign Service appropriations.