U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 3973. Death gratuities

(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 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) 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) of this section 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.

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.

(d) 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.

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