(a) Payment of Expenses.—The Secretary concerned may pay the expenses incident to the death of a civilian employee who dies of injuries incurred in connection with the employee’s service with an armed force in a contingency operation, or who dies of injuries incurred in connection with a terrorist incident occurring during the employee’s service with an armed force, as follows:

(1) Round-trip transportation and prescribed allowances for one person to escort the remains of the employee to the place authorized under section 5742(b)(1) of title 5.

(2) Presentation of a flag of the United States to the next of kin of the employee.

(3) Presentation of a flag of equal size to the flag presented under paragraph (2) to the parents or parent of the employee, if the person to be presented a flag under paragraph (2) is other than the parent of the employee.

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(b) Regulations.—The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations to implement this section. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall prescribe regulations to implement this section with regard to civilian employees of the Department of Homeland Security. Regulations under this subsection shall be uniform to the extent possible and shall provide for the Secretary’s consideration of the conditions and circumstances surrounding the death of an employee and the nature of the employee’s service with the armed force.

(c) Definitions.—In this section:

(1) The term “civilian employee” means a person employed by the Federal Government, including a person entitled to basic pay in accordance with the General Schedule provided in section 5332 of title 5 or a similar basic pay schedule of the Federal Government.

(2) The term “contingency operation” includes humanitarian operations, peacekeeping operations, and similar operations.

(3) The term “parent” has the meaning given such term in section 1482(e)(5)(A) of this title.

(4) The term “Secretary concerned” includes the Secretary of Defense with respect to employees of the Department of Defense who are not employees of a military department.