Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 24, 2024

Title 32 - National Defense last revised: Nov 18, 2024
§ 49.3 - Eligibility for payments by the Department of Defense.

(a) The Department may provide a payment to covered employees as defined in this part, if the qualifying injury to the brain was assessed and diagnosed in person by a currently board-certified physician from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry (AOBNP), the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR), or the American Osteopathic Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AOBPMR); occurred on or after January 1, 2016; and occurred while the employee or former employee was a covered employee of the Department.

(b) The Department may provide a payment to a covered dependent, if the qualifying injury to the brain was assessed and diagnosed in person by a currently board-certified physician from the ABPN, AOBNP, ABPMR, or AOBPMR; occurred on or after January 1, 2016; and occurred while the covered dependent accompanied an employee of the Department at an assigned duty location.

(c) Payment for a qualifying injury to the brain will be a non-taxable, one-time lump sum payment unless a second payment is authorized under paragraph (d)(4) of this section.

(d) The amount of payment is at the Department's discretion. The Department will determine the amount paid to each eligible person based on the following factors:

(1) The responses on; DD Form 3220, “Eligibility Questionnaire for HAVANA Act Payments”; and

(2) Whether the Department of Labor (Workers' Compensation) has determined that the requester has no reemployment potential for an indefinite future; or the Social Security Administration has approved the requester for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for a disability; or a neurologist or physician certified by the ABPN, AOBNP, ABPMR, or AOBPMR has certified that the individual requires a full-time caregiver for activities of daily living, as defined by the Katz Index of Independence of Daily Living.

(3) The award thresholds are based on Level III of the Senior Executive Schedule of the year in which the request for payment is approved: Base will be 75 percent of Level III pay, and Base Plus will be 100 percent of Level III pay.

(4) If the requester meets any of the criteria listed in paragraph (d)(2) of this section, the requester will be eligible to receive a Base Plus payment. Requesters whose board-certified physicians confirm that the definition of “qualifying injury to the brain” has been met but has not met any of the criteria listed in paragraph (d)(2), will be eligible to receive a Base payment. If a requester who received a Base payment later meets any of the criteria listed in paragraph (d)(2), the requester may apply for an additional payment that will be the difference between the Base and Base Plus payment.

authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; Pub. L. 117-46, 135 STAT. 391; 22 U.S.C. 2680b.
source: 89 FR 80394, Oct. 3, 2024, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 32 CFR 49.3