The Office of Personnel management issued a final rule that will allow recognizing certain Federal civilian employees who die of injuries incurred in connection with their employment for their duty and sacrifice. Under the Act, Executive agencies, the United States Postal Service, and the Postal Regulatory Commission may furnish flags to the beneficiaries of employees who died of injuries incurred in connection with their employment as a result of criminal acts, acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other circumstances as determined by the President.
Federal Postal-Coalition Flag Day wish: Flags for feds who died in the line of duty
Flag Recognition Benefit for Fallen Federal Civilian Employees
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final regulations to implement the Civilian Service Recognition Act of 2011. The final regulations will assist agencies in administering a United States flag recognition benefit for fallen Federal civilian employees, and describe the eligibility requirements and procedures to request a flag.
OPM is amending part 550 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, by adding a new subpart (subpart O) titled “Flag Recognition Benefit for Fallen Federal Civilian Employees” that establishes a comprehensive, Governmentwide approach to honor Federal civilian employees who die of certain injuries incurred in connection with their employment. These regulations also provide agencies flexibility to develop additional procedures when honoring these employees.
Surviving members of a domestic partnership or civil union could also qualify to be recipients of a flag, within the order of precedence, but only within the category of those having a close family affiliation. The “close family affiliation” category encompasses any non-marital domestic partner, whether same-sex or different-sex, irrespective of whether the individual was in a state-sanctioned legal relationship, such as a civil union or domestic partnership, with the deceased employee. Although requests from surviving members of a domestic partnership or civil union would not receive the same level of precedence as surviving spouses of same-sex marriages, that result is a function of the statutory language itself. The statute specifically identified “spouses,” but not survivors of domestic partnerships or civil unions as among the individuals who would be eligible for such a benefit by virtue of the statute itself. The statute provided OPM with the means to determine what other sorts of relationships might justify the award of a flag, but only for the situation where no request has been received from a spouse, child, sibling, or parent of the deceased employee.