5 U.S.C. § 8346
Section 8346 · Exemption from legal process; recovery of payments
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 134 court decisions — leading case Ridgway v. Ridgway (1981)
Most recently applied in Bailey v. Office of Personnel Management (October 2017)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 5 U.S.C. § 7703 · 11 U.S.C. § 522 · 42 U.S.C. § 407
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 money mentioned by this subchapter is not assignable, either in law or equity, except under the provisions of subsections (h) and (j) of section 8345 of this title, or subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process, except as otherwise may be provided by Federal laws.
(b) Recovery of payments under this subchapter may not be made from an individual when, in the judgment of the Office of Personnel Management, the individual is without fault and recovery would be against equity and good conscience. Withholding or recovery of money mentioned by this subchapter on account of a certification or payment made by a former employee of the United States in the discharge of his official duties may be made only if the head of the agency on behalf of which the certification or payment was made certifies to the Office that the certification or payment involved fraud on the part of the former employee.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
In subsection (b), the words “Notwithstanding any other provision of law” are omitted as unnecessary. The second word of the second sentence “or” is substituted for “of” to correct a printing error.
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
1978—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–366 substituted references to subsecs. (h) and (j) of section 8345 for reference to subsec. (g) of section 8345.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–454 substituted “Office of Personnel Management” and “Office” for “Civil Service Commission” and “Commission”, respectively.
1975—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–166 inserted “except under the provisions of section 8345(g) of this title,” after “equity”, and “, except as otherwise may be provided by Federal laws” after “process”.
Effective Date of 1978 Amendments
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–454 effective 90 days after Oct. 13, 1978, see section 907 of Pub. L. 95–454, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–366 applicable to payments made from Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund after Sept. 15, 1978, see section 2 of Pub. L. 95–366, set out as a note under section 8345 of this title.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Execution to enforce judgment, see rule 69, Title 28, Appendix, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Cross References
Enforcement of legal obligations to provide child support or make alimony payments, see section 659 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.