republic-os/legal/us/code/title-22/chapter-52/section-3973.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, corpus, kind, title_number, title_name, chapter_number, chapter_name, section, citation, status, release_point, release_date, source, source_url, source_identifier, source_file, source_hash, raw_snapshot_hash, text_hash, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	corpus	kind	title_number	title_name	chapter_number	chapter_name	section	citation	status	release_point	release_date	source	source_url	source_identifier	source_file	source_hash	raw_snapshot_hash	text_hash	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
LegalText	22 U.S.C. § 3973	Death gratuities	us	united_states_code	code_section	22	FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE	52	FOREIGN SERVICE	3973	22 U.S.C. § 3973	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc22@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t22/s3973	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-22/usc22.xml	e13adf4c88d5f7795d461b6dbe144299798a2d5501b1bb65764fec9fa5837569	b9c63ede722f5e0bf8eabfe9029e06e312ab9bcfd95c4d1424ed515baff1df83	9fde85a3ed7135383e66d138386940b966146e33fd62d1aa1dc15a2cf9d6be5c	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

22 U.S.C. § 3973 - Death gratuities

Text

(a) Criteria; amount; payment deemed gift The Secretary may provide for payment of a gratuity to the surviving dependents of any Foreign Service employee, who dies as a result of injuries sustained in the performance of duty abroad, in an amount equal to one year’s salary at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5 at the time of death, except that for employees compensated under local compensation plans established under section 3968 of this title the amount shall be equal to the greater of either one year’s salary at the time of death, or one year’s basic salary at the highest step of the highest grade on the local compensation plan from which the employee was being paid at the time of death. Any death gratuity payment made under this section shall be held to have been a gift and shall be in addition to any other benefit payable from any source.

(b) Other executive agencies The head of an executive agency shall, pursuant to guidance issued under subsection (c), make a death gratuity payment authorized by this section to the survivors of any employee of that agency or of an individual in a special category serving in an uncompensated capacity for that agency, as identified in guidance issued under subsection (c), who dies as a result of injuries sustained in the performance of duty abroad while subject to the authority of the chief of mission pursuant to section 3927 of this title.

(c) Guidance Not later than 60 days after January 17, 2014, the Secretary shall, in consultation with the heads of other relevant executive agencies, issue guidance with criteria for determining eligibility for, and order of payments to, survivors and beneficiaries of any employee or of an individual in a special category serving in an uncompensated capacity for that agency who dies as a result of injuries sustained in the performance of duty while subject to the authority of the chief of mission pursuant to section 3927 of this title.

(d) Eligibility to elect monthly compensation as condition to payment A death gratuity payment shall be made under this section only if the survivor entitled to payment under subsection (c) is entitled to elect monthly compensation under section 8133 of title 5, because the death resulted from an injury (excluding a disease proximately caused by the employment) sustained in the performance of duty, without regard to whether such survivor elects to waive compensation under such section 8133.

(e) Definitions As used in this section—

(1) the term “Foreign Service employee” means any member of the Service or United States representative to an international organization or commission; and

(2) each of the terms “widow”, “widower”, “child”, and “parent” shall have the same meaning given each such term by section 8101 of title 5.

(Pub. L. 96–465, title I, § 413, Oct. 17, 1980, 94 Stat. 2092; Pub. L. 113–76, div. K, title VII, § 7082(a), Jan. 17, 2014, 128 Stat. 565.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments2014—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–76, § 7082(a)(1), substituted “at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States Code, at the time of death, except that for employees compensated under local compensation plans established under section 3968 of this title the amount shall be equal to the greater of either one year’s salary at the time of death, or one year’s basic salary at the highest step of the highest grade on the local compensation plan from which the employee was being paid at the time of death” for “at the time of death”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 113–76, § 7082(a)(2), (3), added subsec. (b) and redesignated former subsec. (b) as (d). Former subsec. (d) redesignated (e). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 113–76, § 7082(a)(4), amended subsec. (c) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “A death gratuity payment under this section shall be made as follows: “(1) First, to the widow or widower. “(2) Second, to the child, or children in equal shares, if there is no widow or widower. “(3) Third, to the dependent parent, or dependent parents in equal shares, if there is no widow, widower, or child. “If there is no survivor entitled to payment under this subsection, no payment shall be made.” Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 113–76, § 7082(a)(2), redesignated subsecs. (b) and (d) as (d) and (e), respectively.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 2014 AmendmentPub. L. 113–76, div. K, title VII, § 7082(c), Jan. 17, 2014, 128 Stat. 567, provided that: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, sections 413, 415, and 416 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 [22 U.S.C. 3973, 3975, 3976], as amended or added by this section, shall apply in the case of a Foreign Service employee or executive branch employee subject to the authority of the chief of mission pursuant to section 207 of the Foreign Service Act (22 U.S.C. 3927), serving at a United States diplomatic or consular mission abroad, who died on or after April 18, 1983, as a result of injuries sustained in an act of terrorism, as defined in section 140(d) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999 [probably means “1988 and 1989”] (22 U.S.C. 2656f(d)).”