---
kind: "section"
citation: "5 U.S.C. § 5511"
title: "5"
title_heading: "Government Organization and Employees"
number: "5511"
heading: "Withholding pay; employees removed for cause"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/5/5511"
units:
  - "Part III — Employees"
  - "Subpart D — Pay and Allowances"
  - "Chapter 55 — Pay Administration"
  - "Subchapter II — Withholding Pay"
---

# §5511. Withholding pay; employees removed for cause

- (a) Except as provided by [subsection (b)](#b) of this section, the earned [pay](/usc/5/7511.md?p=a-4) of an [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) removed for cause may not be withheld or confiscated.
- (b) If an [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) indebted to the [United States](/usc/5/7103.md?p=a-18) is removed for cause, the [pay](/usc/5/7511.md?p=a-4) accruing to the [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) shall be applied in whole or in part to the satisfaction of any claim or indebtedness due the [United States](/usc/5/7103.md?p=a-18).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 477.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Derivation | U.S. Code | Revised Statutes and<br>Statutes at Large |
|  | 5 U.S.C. 46a. | Feb. 24, 1931, ch. 287, 46 Stat. 1415. |

In subsection (a), the words “From and after February 24, 1931” are omitted as executed. The word “employee” is coextensive with and substituted for “civil employee of the United States” in view of the definition of “employee” in section 2105.

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