Witness Travel Expenses

An opinion was requested as to whether an employee on sick leave pending disability retirement could be paid transportation and per diem expenses in connection with travel from his retirement home to his permanent duty station to give testimony in connection with a Federal Tort Claims Act proceeding. The employee may be reimbursed for those expenses since federal statutes provide that an employee is performing official duty during the period he is assigned by his agency to testify on behalf of the United States.