Title 5 — Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73not60
§5742 Transportation of Remains, Dependents, and Effects; Death Occurring Away From Official Station or Abroad
Title 5 › Part III— EMPLOYEES › Subpart D— Pay and Allowances › Chapter 57— TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, AND SUBSISTENCE › Subchapter III— TRANSPORTATION OF REMAINS, DEPENDENTS, AND EFFECTS › § 5742
Summary
The head of an agency may pay for funeral and travel costs when an employee dies while away from their official station or while serving outside the continental United States. This can include paying to prepare and send the body to the employee’s home or official station, paying to move the employee’s dependents and household goods home in some cases, and paying travel for up to 2 people to escort the remains. There is a special rule for employees who had a mandatory mobility agreement: if they died in an area under the Commander of the United States Central Command while supporting a military operation (including a contingency operation as defined in section 101(13) of title 10), the agency may pay to move dependents depending on where those dependents lived. If a dependent dies while living with the employee who is performing duties outside the continental United States or in Alaska, the agency head may pay to send the remains to the dependent’s home. The agency may also provide mortuary services if local services are not available or are too expensive, as the agency head decides. Benefits cannot be denied just because the person was temporarily absent from duty when they died. An “agency” means an executive department, a military department, an agency in the legislative branch, or an agency in the judicial branch.
Full Legal Text
Title 5, §5742
Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)For the purpose of this section, “agency” means—
(1)an Executive agency;
(2)a military department;
(3)an agency in the legislative branch; and
(4)an agency in the judicial branch.
(b)When an employee dies, the head of the agency concerned, under regulations prescribed by the President and, except as otherwise provided by law, may pay from appropriations available for the activity in which the employee was engaged—
(1)the expense of preparing and transporting the remains to the home or official station of the employee, or such other place appropriate for interment as is determined by the head of the agency concerned, if death occurred while the employee was in a travel status away from his official station in the United States or while performing official duties outside the continental United States or in transit thereto or therefrom;
(2)the expense of transporting his dependents, including expenses of packing, crating, draying, and transporting household effects and other personal property to his former home or such other place as is determined by the head of the agency concerned, if—
(A)the employee died while performing official duties outside the continental United States or in transit thereto or therefrom; or
(B)in the case of an employee who was a party to a mandatory mobility agreement that was in effect when the employee died—
(i)the employee died in the circumstances described in subparagraph (A); or
(ii)(I)the employee died as a result of disease or injury incurred while performing official duties—
(aa)in an overseas location that, at the time such employee was performing such official duties, was within the area of responsibility of the Commander of the United States Central Command; and
(bb)in direct support of or directly related to a military operation, including a contingency operation (as defined in section 101(13) 11 See References in Text note below. of title 10) or an operation in response to an emergency declared by the President; and
(II)the employee’s dependents were residing either outside the continental United States or within the continental United States when the employee died; and
(3)the travel expenses of not more than 2 persons to escort the remains of a deceased employee, if death occurred while the employee was in travel status away from his official station in the United States or while performing official duties outside the United States or in transit thereto or therefrom, from the place of death to the home or official station of such person, or such other place appropriate for interment as is determined by the head of the agency concerned.
(c)When a dependent of an employee dies while residing with the employee performing official duties outside the continental United States or in Alaska or in transit thereto or therefrom, the head of the agency concerned may pay the necessary expenses of transporting the remains to the home of the dependent, or such other place appropriate for interment as is determined by the head of the agency concerned. If practicable, the agency concerned in respect of the deceased may furnish mortuary services and supplies on a reimbursable basis when—
(1)local commercial mortuary facilities and supplies are not available; or
(2)the cost of available mortuary facilities and supplies are prohibitive in the opinion of the head of the agency.
(d)The benefits of this section may not be denied because the deceased was temporarily absent from duty when death occurred.
(e)Employees covered by this section include an employee who has been reassigned away from the employee’s home of record pursuant to a mandatory mobility agreement executed as a condition of employment.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large (a)–(c)5 U.S.C. 103a.
July 8, 1940, ch. 551, § 1, 54 Stat. 743.
July 15, 1954, ch. 507, § 7(b), 68 Stat. 479. (d)5 U.S.C. 103b.
July 8, 1940, ch. 551, § 2, 54 Stat. 744. Subsection (a) is based on the words “department, independent establishment, agency, or federally owned or controlled corporation, hereinafter called department” in former section 103a. The terms “Executive agency” and “military department” include a department, independent establishment, agency, or federally owned or controlled corporation in the executive branch because of the definitions in section 105 and 102. The words “a military department” are included 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. Subsection (b) is restated for clarity and conciseness and to eliminate redundancy. In paragraphs (1) and (2), the words “outside the United States” are coextensive with and substituted for “in a Territory or possession of the United States or in a foreign country”. 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
References in Text
Section 101 of title 10, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(B)(ii)(I)(bb), was subsequently amended, and the term “contingency operation” is now defined in section 101(a)(13) of title 10.
Amendments
2008—Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 110–181 amended par. (2) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (2) read as follows: “the expense of transporting his dependents, including expenses of packing, crating, draying, and transporting household effects and other personal property to his former home or such other place as is determined by the head of the agency concerned, if death occurred while the employee was performing official duties outside the continental United States or in transit thereto or therefrom; and”. 1998—Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 105–277 added par. (3). 1990—Subsec. (b)(1), (2). Pub. L. 101–510, § 1206(d)(1), inserted “continental” after “outside the”. Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 101–510, § 1206(d)(2), added subsec. (e).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2008 Amendment Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title XI, § 1103(b), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 346, provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall apply with respect to deaths occurring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act [Jan. 28, 2008].” Travel to United States for Immediate Family of Employees Serving Abroad Pub. L. 110–161, div. D, title VII, § 701, Dec. 26, 2007, 121 Stat. 2019, provided that: “Hereafter, funds appropriated in this or any other Act may be used to pay travel to the United States for the immediate family of employees serving abroad in cases of death or life threatening illness of said employee.”
Executive Documents
Delegation of Functions Authority of President under subsec. (b) of this section to prescribe
Regulations
with respect to payment of expenses when an employee dies delegated to Administrator of General Services, see section 1(13) of Ex. Ord. No. 11609,
July 22, 1971, 36 F.R. 13747, set out as a note under section 301 of Title 3, The President. Authority of President under subsec. (e) of this section delegated to Office of Personnel Management by section 6(b) of Ex. Ord. No. 12748, Feb. 1, 1991, 56 F.R. 4521, eff.
May 4, 1991, set out as a note under section 5301 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
5 U.S.C. § 5742
Title 5 — Government Organization and Employees
Last Updated
Apr 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60