§ 101-6.401 - Definitions.

For purposes of this regulation, the following definitions apply:

(a) Federal agency means:

(1) A department (as such term is defined in section 18 of the Act of August 2, 1946 (41 U.S.C. 5a));

(2) An executive department (as such term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 101);

(3) A military department (as such term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 102);

(4) A Government corporation (as such term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 1031));

(5) A Government controlled corporation (as such term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 103(2));

(6) A mixed-ownership Government corporation (as such term is defined in 31 U.S.C. 9101(2));

(7) Any establishment in the executive branch of the Government (including the Executive Office of the President);

(8) Any independent regulatory agency (including an independent regulatory agency specified in 44 U.S.C. 3502(10));

(9) The Smithsonian Institution;

(10) Any nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the United States; and

(11) The United States Postal Service.

(b) Head of agency means the highest official of a Federal agency.

(c) Passenger carrier means a motor vehicle, aircraft, boat, ship, or other similar means of transportation that is owned or leased (including non-TDY rentals) by the United States Government, or has come into the possession of the Government by other means, including forfeiture or donation.

(d) Employee means a Federal officer or employee of a Federal agency and includes an officer or enlisted member of the Armed Forces.

(e) Residence means the primary place where an employee resides and from which the employee commutes to his/her place of employment. The term residence is not synonymous with domicile as that term is used for taxation or other purposes, nor does this regulation affect the provisions set forth in the Federal Travel Regulations for employees on temporary duty (TDY) away from their designated or regular place of employment.

(f) Place of employment means any place within the accepted commuting area as determined by the agency for the locality involved, where an employee performs his/her business, trade, or occupation, even if the employee is there only for a short period of time. The term includes, but is not limited to, an official duty station, home base, headquarters, or any place where an employee is assigned to work, including locations where meetings, conferences, or other official functions take place.

(g) Field work means official work performed by an employee whose job requires the employee's presence at various locations that are at a distance from the employee's place of employment (itinerant-type travel involving multiple stops within the accepted local commuting area, or use outside that area) or at a remote location that is accessible only by Government-provided transportation. The designation of a work site as a field office does not, of itself, permit the use of a Government passenger carrier for home-to-work transportation. (See § 101-6.405.)

(h) Clear and present danger means those highly unusual circumstances which present a threat to the physical safety of the employee's person or property under circumstances where:

(1) The danger is—

(i) Real, not imaginative, and

(ii) Immediate or imminent, not merely potential; and

(2) A showing is made that the use of a Government passenger carrier would provide protection not otherwise available.

(i) Emergency means those circumstances which exist whenever there is an immediate, unforeseeable, temporary need to provide home-to-work transportation for those employees who are necessary to the uninterrupted performance of the agency's mission. An emergency may occur where there is a major disruption of available means of transportation to or from a work site, an essential Government service must be provided, and there is no other way to transport those employees.

(j) Compelling operational considerations means those circumstances where the provision of home-to-work transportation to an employee is essential to the conduct of official business or would substantially increase a Federal agency's efficiency and economy. Home-to-work transportation may be justifiable if other available alternatives would involve substantial additional costs to the Government or expenditures of employee time. These circumstances need not be limited to emergency or life and death situations.