Federal Employees’ Families to get Better Death Benefits Thanks to Obama

Matt Pierce
October 10, 2016

The Obama government has introduced a new proposal that benefits the families of dead federal employees’ if the employee dies on the job. The amount of two types of death benefits will be increased soon. The death benefits payment is done by the agencies’ discretion, according to OPM. It is estimated that about 3000 employees have been killed since 1992.

The Need for Increasing Federal Employees’ Death Benefits

There is a need for increasing the death benefits of federal employees because one of them was increased two decades ago and the other was increased five decades ago. Now, the amount of these benefits must be adjusted as per the current inflation and living expenses. The raise would help the families of the federal employees who died to stay away from financial burdens, says OPM Acting Director, Beth Cobert.

The Benefits

The first benefit is the gratuity paid for the death of a person in the line of duty. This benefit would be given in cases of a criminal act, terrorist attacks, retaliation for carrying out official responsibilities and facing extreme risk while performing a job. Currently, the members of families of the feds who die get a gratuity of $10,000 and this amount was fixed in 1997. Now, this amount would likely rise to $100,000.

The second benefit is a funeral allowance of $800 which was set in 1966. It will be given for an employee who died in the line of duty. This amount has been increased to $8,800.

Agencies’ Power

OPM has stated that as per the current policy, the payment of such benefits varies from one agency to the other because there are varied rules in the employing agencies. In some cases, the amounts are even reduced due to various reasons.

The Numbers

OPM did not seem willing to share the number of federal employees who die every year and are eligible for either or both of these benefits. In 2011, the Congress enacted a law as per which the families of federal employees who died in the line of duty were given American flags from the agencies. Sponsors say that nearly 3,000 feds have died in the line of duty since the year 1992. The number includes those employees who died while being on the job due to criminal acts, natural disasters or even terrorist attacks.