§ 3.2 Definitions.

(a) Covered employee. (1) An employee of the Department of Commerce who, on or after September 11, 2001, becomes injured by reason of a qualifying injury to the brain.

(2) The following are considered employees of the Department of Commerce for the purposes of this part: Department of Commerce employees in the Foreign Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps Officers, and Department of Commerce employees who meet the definition of “employee” set forth in 5 U.S.C. 2105(a), including students providing volunteer service under 5 U.S.C. 3111.

(3) The following are not considered employees of the Department for purposes of this rule: employees or retired employees who were employed by other agencies at the time of the injury.

(b) Covered dependent. A family member of a Department of Commerce current or former employee who, on or after September 11, 2001, becomes injured by reason of a qualifying injury to the brain while the dependent's sponsor was an employee of the Department of Commerce as specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.

(c) Covered individual. A former employee of the Department of Commerce who, on or after September 11, 2001, becomes injured by reason of a qualifying injury to the brain while they were an employee of the Department of Commerce as specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.

(d) Family member. For purposes of determining “covered dependent,” a family member is defined as follows:

(1) Children who are unmarried and under 21 years of age at the time of the qualifying injury or, regardless of age, are unmarried and due to mental and/or physical limitations are incapable of self-support. The term “children” must include natural offspring, step-children, adopted children, and those under permanent legal guardianship (at least until age 18), or comparable permanent custody arrangement, of the employee or spouse or domestic partner when dependent upon and normally residing with the guardian or custodial party, and U.S. citizen children placed for adoption if a U.S. court grants temporary guardianship of the child to the employee and specifically authorizes the child to reside with the employee in the country of assignment before the adoption is finalized;

(2) Parents (including stepparents and legally adoptive parents) of the employee or of the spouse or of the domestic partner;

(3) Sisters and brothers (including stepsisters or stepbrothers, or adoptive sisters or brothers) of the employee, or of the spouse when such sisters and brothers are at least 51 percent dependent on the employee for support, unmarried and under 21 years of age, or regardless of age, are physically and/or mentally incapable of self-support; and

(4) Spouse.

(e) Qualifying injury to the brain. (1) The injury must have occurred in connection with war, insurgency, hostile act, terrorist activity, or other incidents designated by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Commerce, as permitted by law, and was not the result of the willful misconduct of the individual; and

(2) The individual must have:

(i) An acute injury to the brain such as, but not limited to, a concussion, penetrating injury, or as the consequence of an event that leads to permanent alterations in brain function as demonstrated by confirming correlative findings on imaging studies (to include computed tomography scan (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI)), or electroencephalogram (EEG); or

(ii) A medical diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that required active medical treatment for 12 months or more; or

(iii) Acute onset of new persistent, disabling neurologic symptoms as demonstrated by confirming correlative findings on imaging studies (to include CT or MRI), or EEG, or physical exam, or other appropriate testing, and that required active medical treatment for 12 months or more.

(f) Other incident. A new onset of physical manifestations that cannot otherwise be readily explained and that is designated under 22 U.S.C. 2680b.

[88 FR 23112, Apr. 19, 2023, as amended at 91 FR 23907, May 4, 2026]