Professional Liability Insurance

Background

The Department of State will reimburse a proportion of professional liability insurance (PLI) as mandated by Congress in September 1999. Various changes have been made to the regulations and procedures since then, but the current rules are as follows - extracted from cable 02 State 65820 and subsequent updates.

Eligible Employees Overseas

Administrative Officers overseas may approve claims from eligible State Department employees for reimbursement of PLI when they are in one of the positions listed below and it is clear from their responsibilities that they fit one of the three qualifying categories. A Regional Security Officer qualifies as a "law enforcement officer". Others on the list may also meet the definition of "management official". In no case, though, can the Department envision a situation overseas where an employee who does not supervise would meet the definition of management official. For this reason, except in the case of RSOs, Administrative Officers will be responsible for determining that the position meets the statutory definition of "supervisor", i.e., that the supervisory duties of an incumbent's position require the consistent exercise of independent judgement and are not merely routine or clerical in nature, when evaluating requests for partial reimbursement. It is likely that, at the largest posts, an employee who encumbers one of the following positions overseas will meet at least the definition of "supervisor". It may be, however, that at some posts certain positions on the list will not entail the type of responsibilities that would meet the definition of "supervisor".

- Ambassador (or principal officer)
- Deputy Chief of Mission
- Administrative officer
- Senior (or sole) General Services Officer
- Senior (or sole) Human Resources Officer
- Senior (or sole) Budget and Finance Officer
- Senior (or sole) Information Management Officer
- Senior (or sole) Facilities Manager
- Senior (or sole) Public Affairs Officer
- Senior (or sole) Consul General/Senior Consular Offical
- Chief of Non-Immigrant Visas
- Chief of American Citizens Services
- Chief of Immigrant Visas
- Chief of Federal Benefits (when encumbered by a State Department Employee)- Senior (or sole) Political Counselor
- Senior (or sole) Economic Counselor
- Regional Security Officers
- Narcotic Affairs Section Director

In making the decision whether or not to purchase PLI, employees should be aware that the Department has authority to indemnify employees for personal liability for official acts in appropriate circumstances. The USG also supplies an attorney to government officials in most federal court cases involving official acts, although generally not for OIG or Office of Special Counsel investigations. In 1998, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reported to Congress that the Justice Department had received approximately 7,000 requests from federal employees for personal representation and had provided that representation in all but approximately 150 cases. The cost of PLI generally ranges from $250 to $300 a year.

The categories of employees overseas listed in paragraph 3 are only intended to provide guidance as to which employees overseas may be partially reimbursed for the cost of PLI. They are not intended as a directive or recommendation that eligible employees purchase PLI. Each eligible employee must carefully assess his/her circumstances to determine if purchasing PLI is advisable.

The legislation defines "professional liability insurance" as coverage for:

A) Legal liability for damages due to injuries to other persons, damage to their property, or other damage or loss to such other persons (including the expenses of litigation and settlement) resulting from or arising out of any tortious act, error, or omission of the covered individual (whether common law, statutory, or constitutional) while in the performance of such individual's official duties as a qualified employee; and
B) The cost of legal representation for the covered individual in connection with any administrative or judicial proceeding (including any investigation or disciplinary proceeding) relating to any act, error, or omission of the covered individual while in the performance of such individual's official duties as a qualified employee, and other legal costs and fees relating to any such administrative or judicial proceeding.

Definitions

Title 5 of the United States Code, Section 7301 definitions of "supervisors" "managers" and "law enforcement officers" are:

Supervisor

Supervisor means an employee employed by an agency having authority in the interest of the agency to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline or remove employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action, if the exercise of the authority is not merely routine or clerical in nature, but requires the consistent exercise of independent judgement, except that with respect to any unit which includes firefighters or nurses, the term "supervisor" includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of their employment time to exercising such authority.

Management Official

A "Management Official" means an individual employed by an agency the duties and responsibilities of which require the individual to formulate, determine, or influence the policies of the agency. This definition of "management official" has been interpreted to mean an employee who creates, establishes, decides or settles general principles, and plans a course of action for an agency. An employee who mainly assists in the implementation of policy, or makes suggestions for shaping policy, but doesn't actually decide policy, is not a management official. For example, a rough rule of thumb is that office directors and above (and possibly some deputy directors) are management officials, and others are not.

Law Enforcement Officer

The term "Law Enforcement Officer" means an employee, the duties of whose position are primarily the investigation, apprehension, prosecution, or detention of individuals suspected or convicted of offenses against the criminal laws of the United States, including any law enforcement officer under section 8331(20) or 8401(17) of Title 5, or under Section 4823 of Title 22, United States Code.

Since they are USG employees, State FSN direct hire and PSA employees, "Rockefeller" appointees, and U.S. citizens hired on direct-hire PIT and Family Member Appointments are potentially covered under the legislation. However, the Department has determined that locally hired USG employees do not generally require consistent exercise of independent judgement as identified above. These employees will not, therefore, be eligible for partial reimbursement of PLI costs under this program.

Procedures

The following guidance applies:

The Department will reimburse eligible State employees for the purchase of professional liability insurance in the amount of USD 175 (from June 2003) or 50 percent of the premium, whichever is less;
Domestic employees submit their claims for reimbursement to their bureaus' Executive Directors for approval.
Overseas employees submit their claims to their Administrative Officer. Claims are made on SF 1164 'Claim for Reimbursement for Expenditures on Official Business' accompanied with a receipt, or cancelled check, for the paid premium. The SF 1164 should contain the following statement: "This claim is submitted in accordance with P.L. 104-208 as amended in the Appropriations Act, 2000, September 29, 1999."
Funding for reimbursement is a bureau expense domestically and a post expense overseas.

HR/ER maintains an IntraNet website that provides more information on PLI: http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/er/employment/PLI/Insurance.html, and further information is available there and on the "Ask Admin" IntraNet website.