5 U.S.C. § 8118
Section 8118 · Continuation of pay; election to use annual or sick leave
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 19 court decisions — leading case Janakes v. United States Postal Service (1985)
Most recently applied in 941 F. Supp. 2d 1237 - Merced Irrigation District v. County of Mariposa (April 2013)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) The United States shall authorize the continuation of pay of an employee, as defined in section 8101(1) of this title (other than those referred to in clause (B) or (E), who has filed a claim for a period of wage loss due to a traumatic injury with his immediate superior on a form approved by the Secretary of Labor within the time specified in section 8122(a)(2) of this title.
(b) Continuation of pay under this subchapter shall be furnished—
(1) without a break in time, except as provided under section 8117(b), unless controverted under regulations of the Secretary;
(2) for a period not to exceed 45 days; and
(3) under accounting procedures and such other regulations as the Secretary may require.
(c) An employee may use annual or sick leave to his credit at the time the disability begins, but his compensation for disability does not begin, and the time periods specified by section 8117 of this title do not begin to run, until termination of pay as set forth in subsections (a) and (b) or the use of annual or sick leave ends.
(d) If a claim under subsection (a) is denied by the Secretary, payments under this section shall, at the option of the employee, be charged to sick or annual leave or shall be deemed overpayments of pay within the meaning of section 5584 of title 5, United States Code.
(e) Payments under this section shall not be considered as compensation as defined by section 8101(12) of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 758. Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 458, §8, 39 Stat. 743. Oct. 14, 1949, ch. 691, §101(b), 63 Stat. 854. Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.
Amendments
2006—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 109–435 amended par. (1) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (1) read as follows: “without a break in time unless controverted under regulations of the Secretary;”.
1974—Pub. L. 93–416 inserted in section catchline the reference to continuation of pay, added subsecs. (a), (b), (d) and (e), designated existing provisions as subsec. (c), and in subsec. (c) as so designated, substituted “until termination of pay as set forth in subsections (a) and (b) or the use of annual or sick leave ends” for “until the use of the annual or sick leave ends”.
Effective Date of 1974 Amendment
Section 28(b) of Pub. L. 93–416 provided that: “Section 11 of this Act [amending this section] shall become effective 60 days from enactment [Sept. 7, 1974] and be applicable to any injury occurring on or after such effective date.”