---
kind: "section"
citation: "5 U.S.C. § 5351"
title: "5"
title_heading: "Government Organization and Employees"
number: "5351"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/5/5351"
units:
  - "Part III — Employees"
  - "Subpart D — Pay and Allowances"
  - "Chapter 53 — Pay Rates and Systems"
  - "Subchapter V — Student-Employees"
---

# §5351. Definitions


For the purpose of this subchapter—

- (1) “agency” means an [Executive agency](/usc/5/6501.md?p=2), a military [department](/usc/5/10101.md?p=4), and the [government](/usc/5/4101.md?p=3) of the District of Columbia; and
- (2) “student-employee” means—
  - (A) a student nurse, medical or dental intern, resident-in-[training](/usc/5/4101.md?p=4), student dietitian, student physical therapist, and student occupational therapist, assigned or attached to a hospital, clinic, or medical or dental laboratory operated by an [agency](#1); and
  - (B) any other [student-employee](#2), assigned or attached primarily for [training](/usc/5/4101.md?p=4) purposes to a hospital, clinic, or medical or dental laboratory operated by an [agency](#1), who is designated by the head of the [agency](#1) with the approval of the [Office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) of Personnel Management.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 472; Pub. L. 95–454, title IX, § 906(a)(2), Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1224.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Derivation | U.S. Code | Revised Statutes and<br>Statutes at Large |
|  | 5 U.S.C. 1052. | Aug. 4, 1947, ch. 452, § 2, 61 Stat. 727. |

The section is restated in definition form. In paragraph (1), the words “an Executive agency, a military department” are coextensive with and substituted for “department, agency, or instrumentality of the Federal Government” in view of the definitions in sections 105 and 102.

The exception from the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, is omitted as obsolete and superseded by the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, which is carried into this title. The present exception from the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, is carried into section 5102(c)(16).

Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1978—Par. (2)(B). Pub. L. 95–454 substituted “Office of Personnel Management” for “Civil Service Commission”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1978 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 95–454 effective 90 days after Oct. 13, 1978, see section 907 of Pub. L. 95–454, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.