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DOL Home > OWCP > DFEC > Federal Employees'
Compensation Act

Division of Federal Employees' Compensation
(DFEC)

§8101. Definitions

For the purpose of this subchapter--

(1) "employee" means--

(A) a civil officer or employee in any branch of the Government of the United
States, including an officer or employee of an instrumentality wholly owned by
the United States;

(B) an individual rendering personal service to the United States similar to
the service of a civil officer or employee of the United States, without pay or
for nominal pay, when a statute authorizes the acceptance or use of the service,
or authorizes payment of travel or other expenses of the individual;

(C) an individual, other than an independent contractor or an individual
employed by an independent contractor, employed on the Menominee Indian
Reservation in Wisconsin in operations conducted under a statute relating to
tribal timber and logging operations on that reservation;

(D) an individual employed by the government of the District of Columbia;
and

(E) an individual appointed to a position on the office staff of a former
President under section 1(b) of the Act of August 25, 1958 (72 Stat. 838);

but does not include--

(i) a commissioned officer of the Regular Corps of the Public Health
Service;

(ii) a commissioned officer of the Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service
on active duty;

(iii) a commissioned officer of the Environmental Science Services
Administration; or

(iv) a member of the Metropolitan Police or the Fire Department of the
District of Columbia who is pensioned or pensionable under sections 521-535 of
title 4, District of Columbia Code; and

(F) an individual selected pursuant to chapter 121 of title 28, United States
Code, and serving as a petit or grand juror;

(2) "physician" includes surgeons, podiatrists, dentists, clinical
psychologists, optometrists, chiropractors, and osteopathic practitioners within
the scope of their practice as defined by State law. The term "physician"
includes chiropractors only to the extent that their reimbursable services are
limited to treatment consisting of manual manipulation of the spine to correct a
subluxation as demonstrated by X-ray to exist, and subject to regulation by the
Secretary;

(3) "medical, surgical, and hospital services and supplies" includes services
and supplies by podiatrists, dentists, clinical psychologists, optometrists,
chiropractors, osteopathic practitioners and hospitals within the scope of their
practice as defined by State law. Reimbursable chiropractic services are limited
to treatment consisting of manual manipulation of the spine to correct a
Secretary;

(4) "monthly pay" means the monthly pay at the time of injury, or the monthly
pay at the time disability begins, or the monthly pay at the time compensable
disability recurs, if the recurrence begins more than 6 months after the injured
employee resumes regular full-time employment with the United States, whichever
is greater, except when otherwise determined under section 8113 of this title
with respect to any period;

(5) "injury" includes, in addition to injury by accident, a disease
proximately caused by the employment, and damage to or destruction of medical
braces, artificial limbs, and other prosthetic devices which shall be replaced
or repaired, and such time lost while such device or appliance is being replaced
or repaired; except that eyeglasses and hearing aids would not be replaced,
repaired, or otherwise compensated for, unless the damages or destruction is
incident to a personal injury requiring medical services;

(6) "widow" means the wife living with or dependent for support on the
decedent at the time of his death, or living apart for reasonable cause or
because of his desertion;

(7) "parent" includes stepparents and parents by adoption;

(8) "brother" and "sister" mean one who at the time of the death of the
employee is under 18 years of age or over that age and incapable of
self-support, and include stepbrothers and stepsisters, half brothers and half
sisters, and brothers and sisters by adoption, but do not include married
brothers or married sisters;

(9) "child" means one who at the time of the death of the employee is under
18 years of age or over that age and incapable of self-support, and includes
stepchildren, adopted children, and posthumous children, but does not include
married children;

(10) "grandchild" means one who at the time of the death of the employee is
under 18 years of age or over that age and incapable of self-support;

(11) "widower" means the husband living with or dependent for support on the
decedent at the time of her death, or living apart for reasonable cause or
because of her desertion;

(12) "compensation" includes the money allowance payable to an employee or
his dependents and any other benefits paid for from the Employees' Compensation
Fund, but this does not in any way reduce the amount of the monthly compensation
payable for disability or death;

(13) "war-risk hazard" means a hazard arising during a war in which the
United States is engaged; during an armed conflict in which the United States is
engaged, whether or not war has been declared; or during a war or armed conflict
between military forces of any origin, occurring in the country in which an
individual to whom this subchapter applies is serving; from--

(A) the discharge of a missile, including liquids and gas, or the use of a
weapon, explosive, or other noxious thing by a hostile force or individual or in
combating an attack or an imagined attack by a hostile force or individual;

(B) action of a hostile force or individual, including rebellion or
insurrection against the United States or any of its allies;

(C) the discharge or explosion of munitions intended for use in connection
with a war or armed conflict with a hostile force or individual;

(D) the collision of vessels on convoy or the operation of vessels or
aircraft without running lights or without other customary peacetime aids to
navigation; or

(E) the operation of vessels or aircraft in a zone of hostilities or engaged
in war activities;

(14) "hostile force or individual" means a nation, a subject of a foreign
nation, or an individual serving a foreign nation--

(A) engaged in a war against the United States or any of its allies;

(B) engaged in armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared, against
the United States or any of its allies; or

(C) engaged in a war or armed conflict between military forces of any origin
in a country in which an individual to whom this subchapter applies is
serving;

(15) "allies" means any nation with which the United States is engaged in a
common military effort or with which the United States has entered into a common
defensive military alliance;

(16) "war activities" includes activities directly relating to military
operations;

(17) "student" means an individual under 23 years of age who has not
completed 4 years of education beyond the high school level and who is regularly
pursuing a full-time course of study or training at an institution which
is--

(A) a school or college or university operated or directly supported by the
United States, or by a State or local government or political subdivision
thereof;

(B) a school or college or university which has been accredited by a State or
by a State-recognized or nationally recognized accrediting agency or body;

(C) a school or college or university not so accredited but whose credits are
accepted, on transfer, by at least three institutions which are so accredited,
for credit on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so
accredited; or

(D) an additional type of educational or training institution as defined by
the Secretary of Labor.

Such an individual is deemed not to have ceased to be a student during an
interim between school years if the interim is not more than 4 months and if he
shows to the satisfaction of the Secretary that he has a bona fide intention of
continuing to pursue a full-time course of study or training during the semester
or other enrollment period immediately after the interim or during periods of
reasonable duration during which, in the judgment of the Secretary, he is
prevented by factors beyond his control from pursuing his education. A student
whose 23rd birthday occurs during a semester or other enrollment period is
deemed a student until the end of the semester or other enrollment period;

(18) "price index" means the Consumer Price Index (all items--United States
city average) published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and

(19) "organ" means a part of the body that performs a special function, and
for purposes of this subchapter excludes the brain, heart, and back; and

(20) "United States medical officers and hospitals" includes medical officers
and hospitals of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Veterans Affairs, and
United States Public Health Service, and any other medical officer or hospital
designated as a United States medical officer or hospital by the Secretary of
Labor.

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