A Government Engineer's Personal Liability

Abstract

An engineer employed by the Executive Branch of the federal government has the same rights as nearly all other employees with similar responsibility levels. These rights originally developed from the sovereign immunity of the United States and were tied to a basic doctrine of official immunity of the individual employee from suit. That doctrine has been modified to recognize the constitutional rights of third parties, and as a result engineers have an increased vulnerability to personal liability suits for actions taken within the scope of their duties. In 1981, legislation was introduced in Congress to provide that the exclusive remedy for acts committed by federal employees, including constitutional wrongs would be against the United States. The proposed legislation, similar to a bill introduced in 1978, did not pass this session of Congress.