Expenses incident to death: civilian employees serving with an armed force
(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)
section 5742(b)(1) of title 5 Round-trip transportation and prescribed allowances for one person to escort the remains of the employee to the place authorized under .
(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.
(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)
section 5332 of title 5 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 or a similar basic pay schedule of the Federal Government.
(2)
The term “contingency operation” includes humanitarian operations, peacekeeping operations, and similar operations.
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.
“The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply with respect to the payment of incidental expenses for civilian employees who die while serving in a contingency operation that occurs after the date of the enactment of this Act [].”