[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR537.109]

[Page 490-491]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 537--REPAYMENT OF STUDENT LOANS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 537.109  Employee reimbursements to the Government.

    (a) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, an employee 
who fails to complete the period of employment established under a 
service agreement will be indebted to the Federal Government and must 
reimburse the paying agency for the amount of any student loan repayment 
benefits the employee received.
    (b) Failure to complete the period of employment established under a 
service agreement occurs when the employee's service with the agency 
terminates before the employee completes the period of employment 
specified in the service agreement because:
    (1) The employee is separated involuntarily on account of misconduct 
or performance; or
    (2) The employee leaves the agency voluntarily.
    (c) If an employee fails to reimburse the agency for the amount owed 
under paragraph (a) of this section, a sum equal to the amount 
outstanding must be recovered from the employee under the agency's 
regulations for collection by offset from an indebted Government 
employee under 5 U.S.C. 5514 and subpart K of part 550 of this chapter, 
or through the appropriate provisions governing debt collection if the 
individual is no longer a Federal employee.
    (d) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply when the employee 
fails to complete a period of employment established under a service 
agreement because:
    (1) The employee is involuntarily separated for reasons other than 
misconduct or performance; or
    (2) The employee leaves the agency voluntarily to enter into the 
service of any other agency, unless reimbursement to the paying agency 
is otherwise specified in the service agreement.
    (e) The head of an agency may waive, in whole or in part, a right of 
recovery of an employee's debt if he or she determines that recovery 
would be against equity and good conscience or against the public 
interest.
    (f) Any amount repaid, or recovered from, an employee under this 
section will be credited to the appropriation account from which the 
amount involved was originally paid. Any

[[Page 491]]

amount so credited will be merged with other sums in such account and 
will be available for the same purposes and period, and subject to the 
same limitations (if any), as the sums with which merged.