Federal Laws Addressing Liability

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Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act

The Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act of 1988 ("Westfall Act"), 28 U.S.C. § 2679, amended the Federal Tort Claims Act to provide for the substitution of the United States as a defendant in any action where one of its employees is sued for damages as a result of an alleged common law tort committed by the employee within the scope of his or her employment. Congress enacted the Westfall Act to respond to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Westfall v. Erwin, 484 U.S. 292 (1988), which limited a federal official's absolute immunity from tort claims to situations where the official's actions were "within the outer perimeter of an official's duties and . . . discretionary in nature." Congress saw the Westfall decision as an erosion of the common law tort immunity formerly available to federal employees.