USC - Definitions

View all text of Part A [§ 10281 - § 10288]

§ 10284. DefinitionsAs used in this subchapter—

(1) “action outside of jurisdiction” means an action, not in the course of any compensated employment involving either the performance of public safety activity or the provision of security services, by a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew that—

(A) was taken in a jurisdiction where—

(i) the law enforcement officer or firefighter then was not authorized to act, in the ordinary course, in an official capacity; or

(ii) the member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew then was not authorized or licensed to act, in the ordinary course, by law or by the applicable agency or entity;

(B) then would have been within the authority and line of duty of—

(i) a law enforcement officer or a firefighter to take, who was authorized to act, in the ordinary course, in an official capacity, in the jurisdiction where the action was taken; or

(ii) a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew to take, who was authorized or licensed by law and by a pertinent agency or entity to act, in the ordinary course, in the jurisdiction where the action was taken; and

(C) was, in an emergency situation that presented an imminent and significant danger or threat to human life or of serious bodily harm to any individual, taken—

(i) by a law enforcement officer—(I) to prevent, halt, or respond to the immediate consequences of a crime (including an incident of juvenile delinquency); or(II) while engaging in a rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services;

(ii) by a firefighter—(I) while engaging in fire suppression; or(II) while engaging in a rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services; or

(iii) by a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew, while engaging in a rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services;

(2) “candidate officer” means an individual who is enrolled or admitted, as a cadet or trainee, in a formal and officially established program of instruction or of training (such as a police or fire academy) that is specifically intended to result upon completion, in the—

(A) commissioning of such individual as a law enforcement officer;

(B) conferral upon such individual of official authority to engage in fire suppression (as an officer or employee of a public fire department or as an officially recognized or designated member of a legally organized volunteer fire department); or

(C) granting to such individual official authorization or license to engage in a rescue activity, or in the provision of emergency medical services, as a member of a rescue squad, or as a member of an ambulance crew that is (or is a part of) the agency or entity that is sponsoring the individual’s enrollment or admission;

(3) “blind” means an individual who has central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens or whose eye is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees;

(4) “catastrophic injury” means an injury, the direct and proximate result of which is to permanently render an individual functionally incapable (including through a directly and proximately resulting neurocognitive disorder), based on the state of medicine on the date on which the claim is determined by the Bureau, of performing work, including sedentary work: Provided, That, if it appears that a claimant may be functionally capable of performing work—

(A) the Bureau shall disregard work where any compensation provided is de minimis, nominal, honorary, or mere reimbursement of incidental expenses, such as—

(i) work that involves ordinary or simple tasks, that because of the claimed disability, the claimant cannot perform without significantly more supervision, accommodation, or assistance than is typically provided to an individual without the claimed disability doing similar work;

(ii) work that involves minimal duties that make few or no demands on the claimant and are of little or no economic value to the employer; or

(iii) work that is performed primarily for therapeutic purposes and aids the claimant in the physical or mental recovery from the claimed disability; and

(B) the claimant shall be presumed, absent clear and convincing medical evidence to the contrary as determined by the Bureau, to be functionally incapable of performing such work if the direct and proximate result of the injury renders the claimant—

(i) blind;

(ii) parapalegic; 1

1 So in original. Probably should be “paraplegic;”.

(iii) quadriplegic;

(5) “chaplain” includes any individual serving as an officially recognized or designated member of a legally organized volunteer fire department or legally organized police department, or an officially recognized or designated public employee of a legally organized fire or police department who was responding to a fire, rescue, or police emergency;

(6) “child” means any natural, illegitimate, adopted, or posthumous child or stepchild of a deceased or permanently and totally disabled public safety officer who, at the time of the public safety officer’s death or fatal injury (in connection with any claim predicated upon such death or injury) or the date of the public safety officer’s catastrophic injury or of the final determination by the Bureau of any claim predicated upon such catastrophic injury, is—

(A) 18 years of age or under;

(B) over 18 years of age and a student as defined in section 8101 of title 5; or

(7) “firefighter” includes an individual serving as an officially recognized or designated member of a legally organized volunteer fire department, including an individual who, as such a member, engages in scene security or traffic management as the primary or only duty of the individual during emergency response;

(8) “intoxication” means a disturbance of mental or physical faculties resulting from the introduction of alcohol into the body as evidenced by—

(A) a post-injury blood alcohol level of .20 per centum or greater; or

(B) a post-injury blood alcohol level of at least .10 per centum but less than .20 per centum unless the Bureau receives convincing evidence that the public safety officer was not acting in an intoxicated manner immediately prior to his fatal or catastrophic injury;

or resulting from drugs or other substances in the body;

(9) “law enforcement officer” means an individual involved in crime and juvenile delinquency control or reduction, or enforcement of the criminal laws (including juvenile delinquency), including, but not limited to, police, corrections, probation, parole, and judicial officers;

(10) “member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew” means an officially recognized or designated employee or volunteer member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew (including a ground or air ambulance service) that—

(A) is a public agency; or

(B) is (or is a part of) a nonprofit entity serving the public that—

(i) is officially authorized or licensed to engage in rescue activity or to provide emergency medical services; and

(ii) engages in rescue activities or provides emergency medical services as part of an official emergency response system;

(11) “neurocognitive disorder” means a disorder that is characterized by a clinically significant decline in cognitive functioning and may include symptoms and signs such as disturbances in memory, executive functioning (that is, higher-level cognitive processes, such as, regulating attention, planning, inhibiting responses, decision-making), visual-spatial functioning, language, speech, perception, insight, judgment, or an insensitivity to social standards;

(12) “sedentary work” means work that—

(A) involves lifting articles weighing no more than 10 pounds at a time or occasionally lifting or carrying articles such as docket files, ledgers, or small tools; and

(B) despite involving sitting on a regular basis, may require walking or standing on an occasional basis;

(13) “public agency” means the United States, any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, Guam, American Samoa, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any territory or possession of the United States, or any unit of local government, department, agency, or instrumentality of any of the foregoing, and includes (as may be prescribed by regulation hereunder) a legally organized volunteer fire department that is a nonprofit entity and provides services without regard to any particular relationship (such as a subscription) a member of the public may have with such a department; and

(14) “public safety officer” means—

(A) an individual serving a public agency in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, as a firefighter, or as a chaplain: Provided, That (notwithstanding section 10285(b)(2) or (3) of this title) the Bureau shall, absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary as determined by the Bureau, deem the actions outside of jurisdiction taken by any such law enforcement officer or firefighter, to have been taken while serving such public agency in such capacity, in any case in which the principal legal officer of such public agency, and the head of such agency, together, certify that such actions—

(i) were not unreasonable;

(ii) would have been within the authority and line of duty of such law enforcement officer or such firefighter to take, had they been taken in a jurisdiction where such law enforcement officer or firefighter was authorized to act, in the ordinary course, in an official capacity; and

(iii) would have resulted in the payment of full line-of-duty death or disability benefits (as applicable), if any such benefits typically were payable by (or with respect to or on behalf of) such public agency, as of the date the actions were taken;

(B) a candidate officer who is engaging in an activity or exercise that itself is a formal or required part of the program in which the candidate officer is enrolled or admitted, as provided in this section;

(C) an employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who is performing official duties of the Agency in an area, if those official duties—

(i) are related to a major disaster or emergency that has been, or is later, declared to exist with respect to the area under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); and

(ii) are determined by the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be hazardous duties;

(D) an employee of a State, local, or tribal emergency management or civil defense agency who is performing official duties in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in an area, if those official duties—

(ii) are determined by the head of the agency to be hazardous duties;

(E) a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew who, as authorized or licensed by law and by the applicable agency or entity, is engaging in rescue activity or in the provision of emergency medical services: Provided, That (notwithstanding section 10285(b)(2) or (3) of this title) the Bureau shall, absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary as determined by the Bureau, deem the actions outside of jurisdiction taken by any such member to have been thus authorized or licensed, in any case in which the principal legal officer of such agency or entity, and the head of such agency or entity, together, certify that such actions—

(i) were not unreasonable;

(ii) would have been within the authority and line of duty of such member to take, had they been taken in a jurisdiction where such member was authorized or licensed by law and by a pertinent agency or entity to act, in the ordinary course; and

(iii) would have resulted in the payment of full line-of-duty death or disability benefits (as applicable), if any such benefits typically were payable by (or with respect to or on behalf of) such applicable agency or entity, as of the date the action was taken;

(F) omitted

(G) an employee or contractor of the Department of Energy who—

(i) is—(I) a nuclear materials courier (as defined in section 8331(27) of title 5); or(II) designated by the Secretary of Energy as a member of an emergency response team; and

(ii) is performing official duties of the Department, pursuant to a deployment order issued by the Secretary, to protect the public, property, or the interests of the United States by—(I) assessing, locating, identifying, securing, rendering safe, or disposing of weapons of mass destruction (as defined in section 2302 of title 50); or(II) managing the immediate consequences of a radiological release or exposure.

(Pub. L. 90–351, title I, § 1204, formerly § 1203, as added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 609F, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2099; amended Pub. L. 99–500, § 101(b) [title II, § 207], Oct. 18, 1986, 100 Stat. 1783–39, 1783–56, and Pub. L. 99–591, § 101(b) [title II, § 207], Oct. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 3341–39, 3341–56; renumbered § 1204 and amended Pub. L. 100–690, title VI, §§ 6105(d), 6106(a)(1), Nov. 18, 1988,