United States Department of Agriculture
Research, Education, and Economics

ARS * CSREES * ERS * NASS
Policies and Procedures

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Annual Leave
      Eligibility
     Accrual Rates
     Reduction of Accrued Leave Due to Nonpay Status
     Maximum Accumulation
     Forfeiture and Restoration of Annual Leave
      Advanced Annual Leave
     Terminal Annual Leave
      Disposition of Annual Leave upon Separation or Transfer (changed on 8/27/99)
      Acceptance of Leave upon Transfer
3. Leave Transfer Program
     Recipients
     Donors
     Waiver of Hour Limitations
      Use of Transferred Leave
     Leave Transfer from/to Other Federal Departments
     Status Reports
     Recrediting of Transferred Annual Leave
      Accrual Limitation Under the Program
4. Sick Leave
     Eligibility and Accrual
      Advanced Sick Leave
     Recredit of Sick Leave Balance
     Administration of Sick Leave
     Time Spent in Health Unit
     Sick Leave for Family Care, Bereavement, and Adoption
5. Leave Without Pay (LWOP)
     Requesting and Administering LWOP
6. Family and Medical Leave
     Using Leave   (Changed on 6/1/99)
     Approving Leave
     Recording Leave
7. Home Leave
     Eligibility
     Accrual Rate
     Maximum Accumulation
     Tour Renewal Agreement Travel
8. Military Leave
     Eligibility
     Leave Accrual and Entitlement
     Emergency Military Leave
     Military Leave and Other Types of Absence
9. Other Leave
     Funeral Leave
     Court Leave
     Excused Absence
     Tardiness or Brief Absence
     Emergency Dismissal or Closure
     Holidays
     Officially Sponsored Functions and Programs
      Excused Absence in Conjunction with Official Travel
     Voting
     Examination
     Blood, Bone Marrow, and Organ Donation
10. Absence for Religious Observances
11. Absence Without Leave
12. Summary of Responsibilities
13. Glossary
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Appendix G

1.    Introduction

Of the many benefits available to Federal employees, leave is one of the most valuable, and it promises to become increasingly so as the needs of individuals in the work place and the desire to accommodate those needs gain more attention and acceptance. Because of its importance-- and its growing complexity--leave administration requires some care on the part of both managers and employees.

While the head of each agency is ultimately responsible for administering the leave program and for maintaining a leave account for each employee, leave administration is not a responsibility that can be left to others; everyone is involved in the process and has a role to play. This document addresses the most common types of leave and absence available to Federal employees, focusing primarily on who is eligible for which type of leave and in what circumstances. The discussion is not exhaustive. For situations that are not addressed here contact a personnel specialist in the Human Resources Division (HRD).

One important change is noted in the Policy and Procedure and that is the impact of the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). Leave must be broken into two subparts, short-term and long-term leave. When employees request long-term leave under FMLA-type situations, the Federal manager must require them to designate whether they are invoking FMLA--up to 12 weeks of LWOP in a 12-month period, or any substitution of annual or sick leave thereof. If so, the timekeeper should start a “cuff” or set-aside record of these hours used, e.g., the employee takes 5 hours of sick leave, 6 hours of annual leave, and 7 hours of LWOP as FMLA leave. (See Section 5 for more information.)

2.    Annual Leave

Annual leave gives employees time off for rest and recreation, leisure travel, and personal business. Employees may also use annual leave to attend to family matters and handle emergency situations.See footnote ¹

Eligibility

To earn annual leave, employees must (1) be appointed to a position for 90 calendar daysSee footnote ² or longer and (2) serve a regularly scheduled tour of duty. This means that full-time, part-time, and many temporary employees will earn annual leave, but intermittent employees will not. When an employee's continuity of service is interrupted by a non-leave-earning period (e.g., change in tour of duty from full-time to intermittent), that employee will earn leave on a pro- rated basis for that fraction of the pay period which does qualify for leave.

Accrual Rates

Full-time employees earn leave during each full biweekly pay period while in pay status, or in a combination of pay status and nonpay status. The amount of leave accrued is based solely on years of service:

Part-time employees earn leave only while in pay status. The amount of leave accrued is based on the number of hours worked (or otherwise in pay status) plus years of service:

Part-time employees may carry over into the next pay period any “left over” hours of qualifying service that fall short of the minimum needed to earn an hour of leave (e.g., employees with 5 years of service who work 64 hours per pay period will earn 4 hours leave and carry over the 12 remaining hours into the next pay period). When moving from part- time to full-time employment, employees lose all “left over” hours.

Reduction of Accrued Leave Due to Nonpay Status

When full-time employees are absent in a nonpay status for 80 hours during a leave year (i.e., the equivalent of a full pay period), they will forfeit the leave that was earned for those 80 hours. This same provision applies to each subsequent 80-hour increment (i.e., for every additional 80 hours in a nonpay status, employees will lose 4, 6, or 8 hours of leave, that being the amount of leave that normally would have been earned, depending on their leave accrual rate).See footnote ⁴

Maximum Accumulation

Most Federal employees, both full-time and part-time, may carry an accumulation of 240 hours of annual leave forward into the next leave year. Employees stationed outside the United States may carry forward 360 hours of accumulated leave. Employees whose leave balance exceed the authorized ceiling will forfeit the excess hours at the beginning of the new leave year. Senior Executive Service employees may carry forward 720 hours of accumulated leave. When employees in the 360 or 720 hour earning category move to a position in the 240 hour category, any annual leave accumulated that is in excess of 240 hours shall remain to the employees' credit until used (i.e., they keep whatever balance they have above 240, until they use leave that takes them below 240 hours).

Forfeiture and Restoration of Annual Leave

Forfeited annual leave may be restored only if it was forfeited because of: (1) employee illness, (2) administrative error, or (3) exigency of the public business (i.e., some incident or event critical to the agency's mission). In addition, before restoration can be considered, the following conditions must be met:

• the leave must have been scheduled and approved in writing at least 3 pay periods prior to the end of the leave year; and either
  
  
• the agency head or Chief, PIED, has stated in writing that an exigency does exist and that leave must be canceled (this statement must pre-date or be concurrent with the actual cancellation of employees' leave); or
  
  
• employees become ill at a time when annual leave had been planned and scheduled in advance, and the illness occurred so late in the leave year or was of such duration that leave could not be rescheduled.

To request the restoration of forfeited leave, employees or supervisors must forward a memorandum, via normal channels, to the Chief, PIED-HRD, no earlier than the second pay period, but no later than April 1 of the new leave year. As indicated above, if the request is based on exigency of public business, it must be approved by the agency head in CSREES, ERS, and NASS. In ARS it must be approved by the Chief, PIED-HRD. All requests must include:

• employee's name, title, grade, social security number, and duty station;
  
  
• details of the specific circumstances causing forfeiture of leave;
  
  
• a copy of the approved forms or documents used to schedule or reschedule forfeited annual leave and the total number of hours forfeited;
  
  
• a copy of employee's time and attendance (T&A) reports for pay period 26 of the applicable leave year and for pay period 1 of the new leave year;
  
  
• an explanation as to why employee could not reschedule and use the annual leave during the leave year; and
  
  
• a copy of the paperwork documenting the exigency and its approval by the agency head or Chief, PIED.

HRD will review the documentation and process those requests which meet the necessary criteria. HRD will also notify employees and timekeepers of the amount of any restored leave and the time limitation for its use.

The T&A coordinators will be responsible for entering the restored hours into the NFC data base under project code 394 for NASS and under transaction code 63 for the other REE agencies. The timekeeper must establish and maintain a separate record of all restored leave, using the appropriate transaction code for restored leave on the T&A report, and adjusting the restored leave balance as the leave is used.

Leave restored under exigency of public business must be used by the end of the second leave year following the termination date of the exigency of public business. Leave restored under administrative error must be used by the end of the second leave year following the date the leave was restored. Leave restored under sickness must be used by the end of the second leave year following employee's return to duty. Leave not used by these closing dates is lost and may not be restored.

Advanced Annual Leave

Employees with appointments of 90 calendar days or longer may be granted the annual leave which they would earn during the current leave year at any time after the beginning of the current leave year. The granting of such leave is at the discretion of the supervisor and should only be granted under what is believed to be an emergency situation. In no way is it to be construed as a right of employees.

Terminal Annual Leave

Terminal annual leave is an approved absence immediately before employees separate, when it is known employees will not return to duty before the date of separation. Usually terminal annual leave may not be granted unless it occurs near the end of the fiscal year and the lump sum payment (see below) cannot be made from the current appropriation. Or, terminal annual leave may be granted to retain employees on the rolls until the final date of separation where such date is set by regulatory requirements (e.g., a court order). In such cases the timekeeper will note in the Remarks block of the time sheet, “Terminal leave, employees accrue leave.” This prohibition does not apply to sick or credit leave hours.

Disposition of Annual Leave upon Separation or Transfer

Separation. When employees separate, follow the procedures in Appendix B and C. Employees who are separated from the service are entitled to receive a payment for accrued and accumulated annual leave (changes made on 08/27/99). Such separation includes death, separation for one or more workdays, transfer to a Public International Organization if employees request payment, and a grant of military furlough unless the employees elect to retain leave credit until they return. This lump sum payment shall equal the pay the employees would have received had they remained in the service until expiration of the period of the leave. The period of leave used for calculating this payment shall not be extended due to any holiday occurring after separation.

Transfer. When employees transfer (or are separated and reemployed without a break in service) to a position under the same or a different Federal leave system, the leave is certified to the receiving agency for credit and charge. In cases where the employees will serve without a regularly scheduled tour of duty, a lump sum payment will be made. In cases where the transfer is to a position under a different leave system, the leave will be credited by the receiving agency on an adjusted basis and in an amount not exceeding the aggregate which employees in the receiving agency are permitted to accumulate.

Acceptance of Leave upon Transfer

Agencies will accept a statement of earnings and leave or other appropriate documentation of the leave balances until such time as the SF-1150, Record of Leave Data, is transferred by the losing office.

3.    Leave Transfer Program

Employees with unused annual leave may donate part of that leave to Federal employees (not their supervisors) who are experiencing a personal or family medical emergency and are facing serious economic hardship because of the unavailability of paid leave.See footnote ⁵ Supervisors should determine if the employees intend to invoke the entitlement of up to 12 weeks leave without pay (LWOP) under Family and Medical Leave (See Chapter 4). A consideration in the supervisor's concurrence in the leave transfer request should be the total of the leave transfer time plus the LWOP time requested. Another consideration would be whether the employee was ever put on leave restriction for abuse of sick leave.

Recipients

To be eligible for assistance via this program, current Federal employees must be experiencing a medical emergency that will require their absence from duty for at least 24 work hours without pay (i.e., all available annual and sick leave has been utilized, forcing the employees to take leave without pay [LWOP] or advanced leave). In addition, potential leave recipients are subject to the following requirements and limitations:

• For a personal medical emergency, employees must have exhausted all annual and sick leave before becoming eligible as a recipient.
  
  
• For a medical emergency affecting a family member, employees must have exhausted all annual leave and the amount of sick leave available under the Family Friendly Leave Act (FFLA), before becoming eligible as recipients.
  
  
• Full-time employees may not receive more than 1 year (i.e., 2087 hours) of donated leave for any given emergency. Part-time employees may receive an amount of leave equal to the number of hours scheduled to be worked in a year. After 1 year of absence, the supervisor should consider other alternatives, i.e., return to work, disability retirement, etc.

Prospective leave recipients may apply for acceptance into the program by submitting to the leave transfer coordinator (LTC) a form REE-3, Leave Transfer Program - Recipient Application, a medical certificate, and a leave audit (from the start of the year). This should go through the immediate supervisor--no later than 90 days after the beginning of the medical emergency. If the employees are incapacitated and therefore unable to apply in person, a personal representative may forward an application on behalf of the employees.

Donors

Employees may voluntarily donate no more than one half of the annual leave that will be earned during the leave year. Employees may only donate currently available leave. Hence, full-time Federal employees who have been employed for the full leave year may donate the following, depending on their leave earning category:

The end of the leave year, when employees may be in a “use or lose” situation, is frequently a popular time to donate leave. However, employees must bear in mind that as the year winds down, the amount of leave that may be donated is limited to the number of hours left in the leave year. For example, with 2 weeks left in the year, employees wishing to donate 104 hours of “use or lose” leave, will only be allowed to donate 80 hours, since 80 hours are all that remain in the leave year.

Prospective leave donors should submit form REE-4, Leave Transfer Program - Donor Application, to the LTC, specifying the number of hours to be credited to another employee's leave account.

Waiver of Hour Limitations

The limitations on the number of hours that may be transferred in a given situation (see preceding section) may be waived if: (1) the donated leave does not exceed the number of hours needed by the intended recipient and (2) it appears unlikely that the needed leave will be available from other donors. Employees seeking a waiver must so indicate on the bottom margin and reverse side of the donor submission.

Use of Transferred Leave

Leave recipients may use transferred annual leave in the same way and for the same purposes as regular accrued annual leave subject, of course, to supervisory approval. The recipients may use the leave to cover current absence, retroactively substitute it for LWOP, or use it to liquidate an indebtedness for advanced annual or sick leave associated with the medical emergency. Donated leave may not, on the other hand, be transferred to anyone other than the named recipients. Should the recipients leave the Federal service, any unused transferred leave remaining in the employees' account will not be included in a lump sum leave payment but will be restored to the donor or donors' account(s).

Leave Transfer from/to Other Federal Departments

USDA employees may donate leave to and receive leave from Federal employees outside the Department, providing the leave recipients in each case have been screened and approved by the recipients' own personnel office. The attached REE-5, Temporary Leave Transfer Program - External Transactions, may be used for these purposes. The crucial information is the approval signature and date of the donors' personnel office. This form or a similar Federal Department form must be processed through the LTC.

Status Reports

The recipients or the recipients' personal representatives must:

• submit a monthly report on the status of the medical emergency to the leave recipient's immediate supervisor; and
  
  
• notify the recipient's supervisor and the LTC (1) when unemployment benefits or workers' compensation is first received by the recipient as a result of the medical emergency or (2) when the medical emergency ends.

Recrediting of Transferred Annual Leave

When the medical emergency ends or when the recipients leave the Federal service, any transferred annual leave remaining in the recipients' accounts must be restored to the annual leave balance of eligible donors, providing the number of donors does not exceed the number of hours to be restored. If there are, in fact, fewer hours than there are donors, the unused transferred leave will not be restored but will simply be dropped from the recipients' accounts. The LTC will calculate this pro-rata restoration in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations.

Accrual Limitation Under the Program

Leave accrual is limited to 40 hours of annual leave and 40 hours of sick leave for use after the emergency terminates. Part-time employees' accrual limitations are the average number of hours in the weekly scheduled work requirement. These leave accruals must be maintained by the timekeepers as a set-aside account similar to that mentioned in the Introduction section of this P&P. Once the recipients have exhausted all donated leave, they may use leave from this set- aside account of accruals.

NOTE: Timekeepers must inform the LTC of these hours being used so they can change the NFC data base.

4.    Sick Leave

Sick leave gives employees time off:

• to recover from incapacitation resulting from illness, injury, or pregnancy;
  
  
• to receive dental or medical examination and/or treatment; or
  
  
• to provide care for family members. Sick leave also provides for paid absence should an employee's own exposure to a communicable disease threaten the health of coworkers.   The determination of this threat is made by a health authority or health care provider that the employee would jeopardize the health of others by his or her presence on the job.

Eligibility and Accrual

Eligibility. Employees with scheduled tours of duty--be it full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary--accrue sick leave beginning with the first full biweekly pay period of employment. Employees working an intermittent schedule will not earn sick leave.

Accrual. Full-time employees earn 4 hours of sick leave for each full pay period. Part-time employees earn 1 hour of sick leave for each 20 hours in a pay status, up to a maximum of 4 hours per pay period. When moving from part-time to full-time employment, employees lose all left-over or fractional parts of 1 hour. There is no credit of leave for fractional parts of the biweekly pay periods either at the beginning or end of employees' period of service. During the leave year, whenever full-time employees' absence in a nonpay status total the equivalent of 80 hours in a pay period, the sick leave credits will be reduced by 4 hours. Employees may accrue sick leave without limitation.

Advanced Sick Leave

In the event of serious disability or illness, supervisors may grant a maximum of 30 days advanced sick leave to permanent employees. Employees serving under a limited appointment may be granted advanced sick leave not to exceed the amount of sick leave they will earn in the remaining period of employment. Advanced sick leave may not be authorized when it is known or reasonably expected that employees will not return to duty (e.g., employees have been approved for disability retirement or have submitted a resignation).

Recredit of Sick Leave Balance

For employees who separate from the Federal service, but subsequently return on or after December 2, 1994, all unused sick leave earned during the previous appointment(s) will be restored to their accounts.

Administration of Sick Leave

Minimum Charge. Sick leave is charged in quarter hour increments.

Requesting Sick Leave. When the need for sick leave can be anticipated (e.g., scheduled medical or dental appointments), employees should submit the request for leave as far in advance as possible. When such absence cannot be anticipated, employees must notify the immediate supervisor as early as possible on the first day of absence from the office. Any leave of over 3 consecutive workdays must be supported by a medical certificate or other acceptable documentation. The supervisor may request such documentation for absences of shorter duration providing the supervisor has a legitimate management reason for doing so (e.g., a concern about possible leave abuse). Since issues concerning leave can--and generally do--elicit strong emotions, the supervisors are encouraged to discuss any problem situations, either existing or potential, with an employee relations specialist.

When a period of “standby” service has been declared as a result of emergency conditions such as floods, strikes, etc., employees may request sick leave only for absence on days when work was scheduled.

Time Spent in Health Unit

An employees who is injured or becomes ill while on duty and reports to the health unit may remain there for up to 1 hour without charge to leave or loss of pay.See footnote ⁶ After 1 hour, the absence must be charged to sick leave (or, if the employee prefers and the supervisor approves, to annual leave or LWOP).

Sick Leave for Family Care, Bereavement, and Adoption

Full-time employees are permitted to use up to 40 hours of sick leave per leave year to:

• provide care for those of a family relationship who are incapacitated or require attention in conjunction with any of the following situations or conditions:
  
  
  • physical or mental illness;
  • injury;
  • pregnancy and childbirth;
  • medical, dental, or optical examination or treatment; or
    
    
• make arrangements necessitated by the death of those of a family relationship or to attend     the funeral.

In addition, full-time employees who maintain a balance of at least 80 hours of sick leave may use an additional 64 hours of sick leave per leave year for the purposes noted above. (Note: The hours available for use in this instance are sick leave hours earned in excess of 80 hours; leave may be used only to the extent that such usage does not cause the leave balance to dip below 80 hours.) This would bring the total amount of sick leave available for family care and bereavement purposes to a maximum of 104 hours per leave year.

Part-time employees and employees with uncommon tours of duty may use sick leave for the above purposes in amounts equal to the average number of hours of work scheduled per week. In addition, if the employees maintain a sick leave balance equal to at least twice the average number of hours of work scheduled per week, they may use additional hours of leave for these purposes. The total amount of leave used, however, cannot exceed the total number of hours of sick leave normally accrued during the leave year.

5.    Leave Without Pay (LWOP)

LWOP is a temporary, unpaid absence from work granted at the employees' request.

Requesting and Administering LWOP

Employees must request LWOP and have it approved in advance, except in the case of emergencies. Supervisors may grant 30 days of LWOP for any justifiable reason.

REE employees may schedule and be granted up to 24 hours of leave without pay each leave year for the following activities:

School and Early Childhood Educational Activities. To allow employees to participate in school activities directly related to the educational advancement of a child. This would include parent-teacher conferences or meetings with child care providers, interviewing for a new school or child care facility, or participating in volunteer activities supporting the child's educational advancement. In this policy and procedure, “school” refers to an elementary school, secondary school, Head Start Program, or a child care facility.

Routine Family Medical Purposes. To allow parents to accompany children to routine medical or dental appointments, such as annual checkups or vaccinations. Although these activities are not currently covered by the FMLA, the Federal employees FFLA does permit employees to use up to 13 days of sick leave each leave year for such purposes. Agencies should assure that employees are able to use up to 24 hours of leave without pay for these purposes in cases when no additional sick leave is available to employees.

Elderly Relatives' Health or Care Needs. To allow employees to accompany an elderly relative to routine medical or dental appointments or other professional services related to the care of the elderly relative such as making arrangements for housing, meals, phones, banking services, and other similar activities. Although Federal employees can use unpaid leave or sick leave for certain of these activities, under the FMLA or Federal employees FFLA such as caring for a parent with a serious health condition, agencies should ensure employees can use up to 24 hours of unpaid time off each leave year for this broader range of activities related to elderly relatives' health or care needs.

LWOP in excess of 30 days is regarded as extended LWOP and is subject to the following provisions:

• a form SF-52, Request for Personnel Action, must be completed in order to request, authorize, and process extended LWOP;
  
  
• initial grants of extended LWOP (and any subsequent extensions) are limited to 1 year;
  
  
• supervisors must be reasonably sure that any employees taking extended LWOP will return to duty once the LWOP has expired (except in the case of disabled veterans and employees applying for disability compensation or retirement); and
  
  
• extended LWOP may be granted only if such leave will benefit USDA and advance the welfare of the employees.

6.    Family and Medical Leave

Key Provisions. Full-time employees who have completed 1 year of service are entitled to 12 administrative workweeks (480 hours) of leave without pay during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

(a)    birth of a child and care of the newborn (within 1 year of birth);

(b)    placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care (within 1 year after placement);

(c)    care for those of a family relationship with a serious health condition; or

(d)    a serious health condition that prevents the employee from performing essential duties.

For part-time employees, entitlement to FMLA leave is pro-rated, based on the employees' scheduled workweek (i.e., the number of hours scheduled per week).

Using Leave

Employees must obtain agreement from their supervisors to take leave intermittently or on a “reduced leave schedule” under (a) and (b) above. (On a “reduced leave schedule,” the usual number of hours of work per workday or workweek are reduced.) Employees may take leave intermittently or on a “reduced leave schedule” under (c) or (d) above when medically necessary. An agency may require employees to transfer temporarily to alternative positions with equivalent pay and benefits that can better accommodate intermittent leave under (c) and (d).  Employees may choose to substitute Annual leave for any unpaid leave under the FMLA.  They may also substitute sick leave in those situations in which the use of sick leave is permitted (Changed on 6/1/99). Before approving a request to substitute paid leave for unpaid leave under FMLA, supervisors must determine whether under the circumstances presented, employees are entitled to use paid leave. For example, employees who request leave for child bonding reasons are not entitled to use sick leave for that purpose. They would use either annual leave or LWOP.

Invocation. Employees must invoke this entitlement to FMLA leave, subject to notification and medical certificate requirements. Employees may not invoke entitlement to FMLA leave retroactively for any previous absence from work.

Advance Notice and Medical Certification. Employees must provide notice of intent to take FMLA leave at least 30 days before taking it, or as soon as practicable. An agency may require medical certification(s) for leave under (c) or (d) above.

Benefits and Protections. While on FMLA leave, employees may maintain health benefits coverage by paying the employees' share of the health benefits premium while on leave or upon return to work. Also, employees who take FMLA leave will be restored to the same or equivalent positions upon return to employment.

Approving Leave

Before approving requests for FMLA-type absences, supervisors should ask employees if they are requesting leave under the FMLA. This is particularly important when absences are clearly for family or medical reasons (absence due to childbirth, adoption/foster care, care for a family member with a serious health condition, or a serious health condition of the employee).

If FMLA leave is requested, employees should confirm the request by writing “FMLA” in the remarks section of the SF-71, Application for Leave, or otherwise indicating in writing that FMLA leave is desired. Supervisors should require medical certification for leave under (c) and (d) above.

If the absence is for FMLA-type reasons but FMLA leave is not requested, supervisors must carefully consider whether the leave can be approved. Keep in mind that full-time employees are entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA leave in any 12-month period regardless of the amount of non- FMLA leave already approved. For example, full-time employees could use 8 weeks of non- FMLA leave for family and medical reasons and then invoke the 12 weeks of FMLA leave.

Supervisors faced with this situation should discuss the leave request with the employee and decide whether to approve the request for non-FMLA annual leave and LWOP. HRD can provide advice on approving FMLA leave. Before approving requests for extended absence, supervisors should discuss the leave request with their supervisors.

Recording Leave

Until the National Finance Center creates an FMLA leave code, timekeepers must keep a record of the amount of FMLA leave employees use and whether the leave was for family or medical reasons. Timekeepers may be asked to report the amount and kind of FMLA leave used each year.

Because employees are permitted under FMLA to substitute paid leave, as appropriate, for LWOP, FMLA leave may be annual, sick, advanced, or donated leave under the Leave Transfer Program. Thus, timekeepers should seek guidance from employees' supervisors before recording absences involving FMLA-type leave.

7.    Home Leave

Home leave is leave earned by service abroad for use in the U.S., Puerto Rico, or in the territories or possessions of the U.S. Such leave is earned in addition to any other leave entitlement. Home leave is granted consistent with the needs of the program.

Eligibility

Home leave mainly applies to any employees working outside the U. S. It does, however, extend to employees who reside in Puerto Rico or in one of the territorial possessions of the U. S. (e.g., Guam), but who works elsewhere, including the United States. Employees are entitled to home leave after completing 24 months of continuous service abroad.

Accrual Rate

Employees earn and expend home leave in daily, rather than hourly, units and the accrual rate varies with the conditions of employment. For each 12 months spent in service abroad, employees earn home leave at the following rate in the following situations:

Home leave is credited in multiples of 1 day in accordance with the following table:

Home Leave Earning Table

E.g., at the completion of 7 months of service abroad, employees at the 5-day rate would have earned a total of 2 days of home leave. Employees at the 10-day rate would have earned a total of 5 days of home leave after the same 7 months of service.

Employees may use home leave only in the U. S., the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or possession of the U. S. In terms of timing, employees may be granted leave while actually serving abroad, or within a reasonable period (e.g., 6 months) after returning home, provided the employees are planning to return to service abroad immediately or intend to do so after completing an assignment in the U. S. Employees who do not return to a post abroad after using home leave will be indebted to the Government for the amount of leave used. The minimum charge for home leave is 1 day; additional leave is computed in multiples thereof.

Maximum Accumulation

Employees may accumulate home leave without limitation. Regulations, however, do not allow payment for any unused entitlement nor may employees use home leave as terminal leave.

Tour Renewal Agreement Travel

Tour renewal agreement travel is the transportation permitting home leave between tours of duty in Alaska or Hawaii. An agency may pay the expenses of round-trip transportation for employees and the employees' immediate families from the employees' post of duty in Alaska or Hawaii to their place of authorized location in the U. S. The authorizing official for REE is the Director, HRD.

8.    Military Leave

Military leave provides members of a National Guard or armed forces reserve unit time off--without charge to annual leave or loss of pay--to serve on active duty or active duty for training. The NFC calls this leave, “Regular Military Leave.” Employees may also use military leave when the employees' units are called upon to provide military aid in law enforcement or to assist civil authorities in the protection or preservation of life or property or to prevent injuries. NFC calls this leave, “Emergency Military Leave.” These two types of service encompass what is meant by “military leave.”

“Military leave” does not include periods of inactive duty training or an indefinite period of furlough without pay granted to employees for indefinite active military service. Indefinite military furlough is synonymous with LWOP.

Employees who are entitled to military leave and who are ordered to report for military training or duty must be released from their civilian positions. Application for military leave must be supported by a copy of the order directing employees to report.

REE will not reassign current employees to positions held by employees who are performing active military duty. Instead, employees may be detailed to those positions.

While in a military leave status, employees receive full compensation including leave accrual from their civilian positions in addition to their military pay.

Eligibility

To be eligible for military leave, employees must be members of the National Guard or of a reserve component of the armed forces in receipt of orders to either active duty or active duty for training. Employees must hold a permanent, temporary indefinite, or term appointment. Employees serving under a temporary limited appointment or assigned an intermittent work schedule are not eligible for military leave.

Leave Accrual and Entitlement

Full-Time Employees. Eligible full-time employees accrue military leave at the rate of 15 days per fiscal year. Unused leave earned during 1 fiscal year may accumulate for use in the succeeding fiscal year until it totals 15 days at the beginning of a fiscal year. Therefore, full-time employees could take up to 30 days in a fiscal year (i.e., 15 days regular military leave and 15 days carried over from the previous year) for active duty or active duty for training.See footnote ⁷

Part-Time Employees. Eligible part-time employees accrue military leave at a percentage of the full-time accrual rate. That percentage is determined by dividing the number of hours of scheduled work per week by 40 and multiplying by 15. Since military leave can only be used in full day increments, any fractions resulting from this calculation will be carried over for use during the next fiscal year.

Emergency Military Leave

Civil Disturbances and Law Enforcement. Employees are also eligible for emergency
military leave when called to duty in the event of a civil disturbance or natural disaster to help enforce the law, protect property, or prevent injury. Military leave for these purposes is limited to 22 workdays in a calendar year.

Parades and Encampments (D.C. National Guard Only). Members of the National Guard of the District of Columbia are entitled to military leave for each day of a parade or encampment ordered or authorized by the District of Columbia Code.

Military Leave and Other Types of Absence

Once these basic entitlements have been exhausted, employees requiring additional time for training or other military duty may elect to use annual leave or take LWOP.

9.    Other Leave

“Other Leave” is a category used by NFC to cover all hours of paid absence authorized by law or administrative action not charged to annual, sick, military, and home leave. Following are examples of leave that fall within the Other Leave category: funeral; court; excused absence; tardiness or brief absence; emergency dismissal or closure; voting; examination; blood, organ, and bone marrow donation; officially sponsored functions; and holidays.

Funeral Leave

Should any individual with the equivalent of a family relationship to employees die either from wounds, illness, or injury incurred while a member of the armed forces in a combat zone, employees may receive up to 3 days off to arrange and/or attend the funeral or memorial service. While this type of leave is limited to death suffered in a combat zone, the law does encourage supervisors to offer annual leave or LWOP to employees whose relatives are lost in the line of duty while serving in a non-combat area.

Court Leave

Court leave is the authorized absence, without loss of pay or charge to annual leave, of employees from work for jury duty or to attend judicial proceedings as a witness on behalf of any party in connection with any judicial proceeding to which the U. S., the District of Columbia, or a State or local government is a party.See footnote ⁸

Eligibility.Employees in a pay status with a fixed tour of duty--either permanent or temporary, full-time or part-time--are eligible for court leave. Excluded from these provisions are employees on LWOP and those with intermittent work schedules.

Duration.Court leave covers employees' entire absence regardless of the number of hours per day or the number of days per week they actually serve on a jury or offer testimony. The fact that the employees' presence is required is sufficient justification for granting leave. Court leave begins on the date stated in the summons on which the employees must report to court and ends when the employees are finally discharged. Court leave cannot, however, be regarded as a quasi- vacation. Should court proceedings or jury deliberations be suspended for a day or even for a substantial part of a day, employees should either return to work or be charged annual leave (or be granted LWOP). This provision would not apply if returning to work would cause the employees serious hardship (e.g., the location of the court is at a considerable distance from employees' place of work). Nor would it apply if the employees were serving on a sequestered jury.

Jury and Witness Fees. Employees on court leave will collect any fees or per diem allowances payable in conjunction with court appearances and forward the money to the accounting office of the agency where they work. (Exception: employees serving as jurors in a court of the U. S. or the District of Columbia do qualify for court leave, but do not receive fees for service; recouping any payments, therefore, is not an issue in this instance.) The money submitted will provide some compensation for the employees' salaries, which the agency will continue to pay despite the employees' absences.

In most cases, employees serving as witnesses and, in some jurisdictions, employees serving on a jury, may keep the funds allotted for travel and subsistence (not to exceed actual expenses) and jury members may keep the excess should jury fees exceed the employee's regular compensation. Employees may also retain jury fees awarded for service on nonworkdays or during nonworkhours (since employees are not earning any Federal pay at these times, there is no question of double compensation). Employees may also keep fees earned on Federal holidays, providing the employees would normally have been excused from work on that day.See footnote ⁹

As the foregoing suggests, the fee and compensation issues surrounding court appearances are fairly complicated. Should questions arise, employees and supervisors should contact the HRD pay and leave specialist for assistance.
Excused Absence

An excused absence is a brief (usually from 1 to 10 hours) absence from duty that supervisors may grant employees without loss of pay and without charge to leave.See footnote ¹⁰ Supervisors generally authorize an excused absence, often referred to as “administrative leave,” on a case-by-case basis in response to specific and sometimes unique circumstances.

While the law is somewhat reticent on this topic, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has provided some very broad guidance stating that an agency (i.e., supervisors) may grant excused absence in circumstances which:

• are directly related to the agency's mission;
  
  
• enhance the professional development or skills of employees; or
  
  
• are officially sponsored or sanctioned by the agency head (or by other delegated authority).

Given this considerable latitude, supervisors could conceivably offer administrative leave in a wide variety of instances. In actual practice, most excused absences are clustered around several recurring incidents or issues. The remainder of this section discusses those situations in which excused absence most likely comes into play.

Tardiness or Brief Absence

If employees are tardy or absent for less than 1 hour, the supervisors may grant an excused absence for any adequate reason.

Emergency Dismissal or Closure

All employees are to presume, unless otherwise officially notified, that their work activity will be open each regular workday regardless of any weather or conditions which may develop. Employees are normally expected to cope with difficult driving conditions or disruptions of public transportation facilities and arrive at work on time.

Various emergency situations--snow storms, severe icing conditions, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, air pollution, power failures, and interruption in public transportation--may prevent a number of employees from reporting for work on time and may require the agency to close or otherwise curtail its activities. On these occasions, administrative leave will frequently be granted.

The Director of HRD has the delegated authority from Human Resources Management, USDA, to excuse all employees within the immediate Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area for up to 1 workday. Any closing beyond 1 workday requires the approval of the Agency Administrator. Outside the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area, the authorization for such an excuse rests with the local management official. Disruption of work for 3 days or more, outside the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area, does require the authorization of the Director of HRD.

General Policy. This part of the P&P will serve as a general policy statement.

When employees' arrivals at work are delayed due to an emergency, supervisors may grant administrative leave to cover the absence. Normally, immediate supervisors may excuse up to 2 hours of tardiness. Before making a determination, supervisors should consider all mitigating or aggravating factors including the employees' distance from work, availability and mode of transportation, and the experiences of other employees in similar circumstances.

If a Federal facility is closed prior to normal work hours on a day when regular work had been scheduled, the day becomes a nonworkday for leave purposes.See footnote ¹¹ Employees who had intended to work on that day will be granted excused absence. Employees who were on leave which had been approved prior to the closure will also be excused without charge to leave (leave can be charged only on workdays; a day on which the office does not open is not a workday, so leave cannot be charged). (Note: This provision does not apply to employees on LWOP pending disability retirement or while in receipt of workers' compensation, on military leave, on suspension, or in a nonpay status on the workday before and after the closure. These employees are not entitled to excused absence and will remain in their current status. Also unaffected are those employees whose off day under a flexible work schedule happens to coincide with the emergency closing. Since these employees were never scheduled to work on that day, there is no need to account for their absence in any way.)

The situation is somewhat more complicated when employees are dismissed, en masse, after the workday has begun. If employees are on duty at the time of the dismissal they will not be charged annual leave, but will be granted excused absence. The excused absence will cover the remainder of the workday and will still apply even if the employees had originally planned to take annual or sick leave later in the day.

If employees leave work before receiving word of the impending group dismissal or adjusted work dismissal, annual leave will be charged for the remainder of the day. If employees leave after receiving word of an impending dismissal but before the time set for dismissal, they will be charged leave from the time of actual departure until the time that the official dismissal goes into effect.

If employees are on leave when the dismissal was announced and were scheduled to remain on leave for the rest of the day, leave will be charged for the entire absence. If the employees are on leave when the dismissal was announced, but are scheduled to return from leave during the period of dismissal, leave will be charged until the time the employees were scheduled to return to duty. (In a situation such as this, supervisors must be reasonably sure that the employees would, in fact, have returned to duty if given an opportunity to do so.) Any continuing absence (i.e., from the time of the scheduled return until the employees' normal departure time) will be excused.

If employees are scheduled to report for work before the dismissal but fail to do so, the employees will be charged annual leave, sick leave, or LWOP, as appropriate, for the entire day. If employees are scheduled to report for work after the dismissal goes into effect (but are prevented from doing so since the office is closed), leave will not be charged. The entire absence will be excused.

Emergency Procedures for Offices in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. See Appendix A.

Emergency Procedures for Offices Located Outside the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Each location outside the Washington Metropolitan Area that has regular or recurring hazardous weather or the potential for emergency situations, will develop a plan (Note: there must be such a plan for PIADC, NADC, ERRC, NCAUR, WRRC, and SRRC) which covers the following:

• how a closure or reduced operations decision is made;
  
  
• how employee dismissals are announced when the necessary conditions exist prior to the beginning of the work shift;
  
  
• a listing of emergency positions (this list may be different from the list of emergency employees for shutdown of Government operations);
  
  
• coordination with other Federal offices in the local area;
  
  
• procedures to be followed by employees when the work activity is open, but because of weather or other adverse conditions employees are unable to report for work;
  
  
• the requirement that the location contact the Area, State, or national office when there is a 1-day closing; and
  
  
• any other requirements set by the Area, State, or national office.

When an activity is closed by an interruption of normal operations or for managerial reasons, these reasons must be documented by a Memorandum for the Record signed by the appropriate management official and be available for future reference. If there is a plan, the management official will dismiss the employees in accordance with it.

Holidays

Legal Public Holidays. The Federal Government recognizes the following days as legal holidays:

Basic Entitlement. If the holiday falls within the employees' regular work schedules, the employees will have the day off with pay.See footnote ¹² This applies to both full-time and part-time employees; it does not apply to employees with intermittent work schedules.

“In Lieu of” Holidays. When a holiday falls on the weekend, OPM grants a full-time employee working Monday thru Friday an “in lieu of” holiday (e.g., when the holiday falls on Saturday, the “in lieu of” holiday will be the preceding Friday; when the holiday is on Sunday, the “in lieu of” holiday will be the succeeding Monday).See footnote ¹³ Part-time employees, on the other hand, are not entitled to “in lieu of” holidays but will be granted administrative leave on those days.

Impact of Flexible Work Schedules. Employees on a flexible work schedule (e.g., flexitour or maxiflex) whose off day happens to coincide with either the holiday or the “in lieu of” holiday, may, with the supervisors' concurrence, set any other scheduled workday in the pay period as the “in lieu of” off day.

Special Holidays Declared by Executive Order. On rather rare occasions, the President may declare a Federal holiday--on a one time basis--to recognize a special event or respond to a unique set of circumstances (e.g., death of a former president, victory in a war, etc.). Supervisors and employees should approach these holidays as they would any other holiday. Most problems can be addressed quite easily by keeping in mind that the special holiday is a nonwork day: if leave had been originally scheduled for employees, it cannot be charged; employees who are forced to work on the holiday will be entitled to holiday pay; employees on a flexible work schedule whose off day coincides with the special holiday will be given the preceding workday as the “in lieu of” holiday.See footnote ¹⁴

Local, State, Territorial, and Foreign National Holidays. When local holidays (including State holidays and national holidays in foreign countries) make it unreasonable for a field office to remain open, supervisors will authorize administrative leave for all Federal employees. If, on the other hand, the office is able to continue operating, supervisors should be as liberal as mission requirements permit in approving annual leave or LWOP for those employees wishing time off to observe the holiday. Officially Sponsored Functions and Programs

Supervisors may excuse employees from work to participate in programs or functions, including social functions, sponsored by USDA or by an individual agency or office. In certain circumstances, employees may be excused when the function is sponsored by another government agency. The amount of administrative leave that supervisors may grant on such occasions will vary depending on the supervisors' organizational relationship with the employees involved:

Excused Absence in Conjunction with Official Travel

A supervisor may grant an employee up to 2 hours excused absence in conjunction with official travel either just prior to the employee's departure or immediately following the employee's return.

Voting

Supervisors may grant employees a limited amount of administrative leave to make it easier to vote in local, State, and national elections. The basic guideline is 3 hours. For those employees not allowed to use gliding time, employees must be allowed a 3-hour window, either in the morning after the polls open or in the evening before the polls close, for voting purposes (i.e., for traveling to the polls, waiting in line, voting, etc.). If the employees' schedules cannot be adjusted to allow the necessary 3 hours, either in the morning or the evening, the supervisors must grant enough administrative leave to equal 3 hours.

Whether the leave is offered in the morning or the afternoon depends on which timeframe results in less time off from work. (Note: Voting leave entitlement is based on the employees' normal work schedule--whatever that schedule might be. Employees should not request a temporary change in work schedule merely to qualify for voting leave.)

For those employees on maxiflex schedules or in situations where the voting time can be made up, there is little need for this 3 hours of administrative leave.

Examination

If the agency recommends an examination, or if there is an initial outside emergency treatment, other leave may be charged. If there is a need to go to the local health unit, 1 hour of other leave may be charged.

Blood, Bone Marrow, and Organ Donation

To allow time for rest and recuperation, employees who donate blood without receiving any payment for the donation may be excused from work without charge to leave or loss of pay for up to 4 hours following the donation.

Employees are entitled to other leave for the time necessary to permit them to serve as a bone marrow or organ donor. This leave may not exceed 7 days in a given calendar year. The length of absence for such purposes will vary depending upon the medical circumstances of each case.

 :

10.    Absence for Religious Observances

Supervisors should be as liberal and accommodating as mission requirements permit in adjusting employees' schedules to allow for religious observances. Employees may use annual leave or credit hours to cover the absence, or employees may work overtime and take compensatory time off (the overtime in such cases may be worked either before or after the time off).

 :

11.    Absence Without Leave

Absence without leave (AWOL) is an unpaid, unauthorized period of absence. It is a nonpay status resulting from a supervisory determination that no type of approved leave will be granted for a particular absence. AWOL is charged in 15 minute increments. If an employee is absent for a period of 10 (workdays, consecutive or calendar) days, the supervisor must contact Employee Relations for guidance. Leave charged to AWOL may later be changed to approved leave (i.e., annual, sick, credit or compensatory leave, LWOP, or excused absence) should the employee provide a legitimate excuse for the absence.

12.    Summary of Responsibilities

Agency Heads

• Administer the leave program and maintain leave accounts for all assigned employees.

Division/Unit/Area Directors

• In CSREES, ERS, and NASS, approve or deny requests to cancel forfeited leave.

Chief of Policy, Innovation, and Employee Development, HRD

• Approve or deny requests to restore forfeited leave.
  
  
• Terminate employees' participation as leave recipients in the leave transfer program.

Pay and Leave Specialists, HRD

• Approve or deny employees' requests to participate (either as a donor or a recipient) in the Leave Transfer Program.
  
  
• Evaluate and respond to employees' requests to restore forfeited annual leave.

Supervisors

• Approve leave for assigned personnel and authorize excused absence.
  
  
• Assure scheduling of annual leave so employees do not forfeit leave at the end of the leave year.
  
  
• Contact employee relations if assigned personnel abuse leave or are placed on AWOL.

Employees

• Give supervisors as much advance notice as possible when requesting leave.
  
  
• Provide documents needed to support various leave requests if required by management (e.g., medical certification for sick leave or family and medical leave).
  
  
• Exercise responsibility in managing leave accounts.
  
  
• Review the AD-334, Statement of Earning and Leave, each pay period to ensure leave balances are correctly reported. Bring discrepancies in leave balances to the supervisor's attention as soon as possible.

Employee Relations Specialists, HRD

• Provide advice and assistance to both employees and management on leave-related issues and in resolving leave related problems.

Leave Transfer Coordinator, HRD

• Administers the leave transfer program, entering and removing employees from the system, and coordinating the entry with timekeepers and T&A coordinators.

Personnel Management Specialists, Human Resources Division

• Answer questions and provide guidance on leave administration and policy.

Time and Attendance Coordinators

• Orient and train users of the electronic T&A transmission process.
  
  
• Work with computer specialists to implement electronic transmission of T&A's to NFC from locations.
  
  
• Resolve data entry, transmission, and backup communication problems.
  
  
• Assist the computer specialists in security matters regarding T&A's.
  
  
• TINQ the restored leave that the agency heads have approved.

13.    Glossary

Accrued Leave. Leave that employees have earned during the current leave year but have not yet used.

Accumulated Leave. Unused leave that remains in the employees' leave account at the end of the leave year.

Advanced Leave. Leave granted employees before it has been earned.

Administrative Error. The prevention of an administrative intent to act from being effected as intended, i.e., approval by the authorized official has taken place and acts necessary to effect the action were not carried out.

Administrative Order. An order issued by an authorized official of an agency.

AWOL. Absence without leave; a period of unauthorized absence.

COLA. Cost of living allowance.

Compensatory Time Off. Time off granted employee in lieu of payment for overtime work.

Contagious Disease. A disease requiring that patients be isolated, quarantined, or restricted in movement.

Credit Hours. Time off earned by employees on a flexible work schedule in recompense for voluntarily working beyond the basic scheduled requirement; credit hours differ from compensatory time off in that they are not granted in lieu of overtime pay.

Emergency Employees. Employees occupying positions involving duties which must be performed regardless of weather emergencies or other emergency conditions.

Executive Order. An order issued by the President of the U. S..

Family Members. For the purposes of FMLA leave and sick leave use for bereavement or family care, family members are individuals related by blood or affinity whose close association with employees is the equivalent of a family relationship.

Flexible Work Schedule. A work schedule other than the standard 40-hour per week schedule with an established arrival and departure time (e.g., maxiflex).

FMLA. Family Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Forfeited Leave. Hours of annual leave that exceed the maximum accumulation at the end of the leave year and, therefore, must be deleted from employees' accounts.

Foster Care. Twenty-four hour care for children in substitution for and away from their parents or guardian; such placement is made by or with the agreement of the State.

In Loco Parentis. Refers to a situation in which an individual has day-to-day responsibility for the care and financial support of a child or, in the case of an employee, an individual who had such responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child; a biological or legal relationship is not necessary.

Intermittent Leave Schedule (re: Family and Medical Leave). Periods of leave interspersed with periods of work; rather than going on leave and staying on leave until the emergency medical situation has been resolved, the employee will be “in and out” of the office for an extended period of time.

Intermittent Work Schedule. A work schedule which requires an employee to work on an irregular basis with no prearranged tour of duty. Employees on such a schedule are usually referred to as intermittent employees.

LTC. Leave transfer coordinator. The HRD employee given the responsibility for maintaining the leave transfer program.

Leave Account. Also referred to as leave balance. The amount of leave an employee has available for use at any given time; a popular “umbrella” term used in reference to accrued leave and/or accumulated leave (this usage is notably imprecise, but nonetheless quite common).

Leave Transfer Program. A process whereby a Federal employee may donate annual leave to another Federal employee who needs leave in order to deal with a medical emergency.

Leave Year. The timeframe beginning with the first day of pay period 1 (which occurs in early January of a given calendar year) and ending with the last day of pay period 26 (which generally occurs in early January of the following calendar year). (Should the leave year actually begin on January 1, there will be 27 pay periods in that year. In such a case, the leave year would end after pay period 27.)

LWOP. Leave without pay; an approved absence without compensation.

Maximum Accumulation. The hours of leave that employees may carry forward into the next leave year.

Medical Certificate. A written statement signed by a registered practicing physician or other licensed practitioner certifying to the incapacitation, examination, treatment, or period of disability while the patient was receiving professional treatment.

Medical Emergency (re: Leave Transfer Program). A medical condition affecting employees or members of employees' families that will require the employees' absence from duty for at least 24 work hours (or, for part-time employees, a pro-rated number of hours based on the employees' scheduled workweeks) and will result in a substantial loss of income since paid leave is unavailable.

Nonpay Status. See pay status below.

Parent. A biological parent or an individual who stands or stood in loco parentis to employees when employees were children; it does not include parents “in law.”

Part-Time Employees. Employees who work less than 80 hours per pay period or 40 hours per week (most part-time employees work between 16 and 32 hours per week) but have a prearranged scheduled tour of duty.

Pay Status. Any situation in which employees are eligible for pay and benefits. The term most commonly applies to employees while at work but it also covers periods of paid leave, excused absences, and compensatory time off. Non-pay status, in contrast, describes those situations in which employees are not eligible for pay including LWOP, AWOL, furlough, and suspension.

Pro Rata. In leave terminology to divide the leave accruals among the days of the work week (e.g., divide 4 hours among 10 days). So, per OPM calculations, if you work 1 day, you take 1/10 of 4 or .4 and round up to 1. If you work 3 days, .3 of 4 or 1.2 and round down to 1.

Public Exigency. An event or situation of critical importance to an agency; if the appropriate action is not taken by the appropriate people, the agency's mission will be in jeopardy.

Reduced Leave Schedule. A work schedule under which the usual number of hours worked per day or per week is reduced; the hours that are not worked are taken as leave.

REE-4, Leave Transfer Program - Donor Application. A form used by employees wishing to donate annual leave.

REE-3, Leave Transfer Program - Leave Recipient Application. A form used by employees wishing to receive donated annual leave.

Restored Leave. Previously forfeited leave which has been returned to the employee's account.

Son or Daughter. A biological, adopted, or foster child; a stepchild; a legal ward; or a child of a person standing in loco parentis who is under 18 years of age, or is 18 years of age or older, but incapable of self care because of mental or physical disability.

Spouse. An individual who is a husband or wife pursuant to a marriage that is a legal union between one man and one woman including common law marriage between one man and one woman in states where it is recognized.

TAC. T&A Coordinator. The person(s) in each agency responsible for maintaining the T&A system.

JANE L. GILES
Deputy Administrator
Administrative and Financial Management

Appendix A

Emergency Dismissal or Closure Procedures
for Locations in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area

Employees in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area must be aware of radio/TV announcements used to inform them of emergencies. OPM may authorize an adjusted home departure or adjusted work dismissal policy, both of which rely on an employee's normal departure time from home or work to determine the time period the employee will be excused from work.

Employees with duty stations inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway should follow OPM announcements on both adjusted home departures and adjusted work dismissals. Employees with duty stations outside the Washington D.C. Beltway (i.e., Beltsville, Greenbelt, and Glenn Dale) should follow OPM announcements on adjusted home departures, and their supervisors' instructions on adjusted work dismissals, as discussed below.

Adjusted Home Departure. An “adjusted home departure” policy allows employees to leave their homes later than their normal departure times. For example, should OPM announce this policy is in effect and employees should delay their normal departure time for 2 hours, employees who would normally leave for work at 7 a.m. would delay leaving their homes until 9 a.m. This policy replaces OPM's former delayed arrival policy.

An adjusted home departure may be used in other emergency situations such as power failures and interruption of public transportation. OPM will notify Human Resources Directors of each agency of a decision to close Federal agencies or invoke an “unscheduled leave” or “adjusted home departure” policy. OPM will also attempt to notify the news media by 6 a.m. if one of these policies will be used due to an emergency occurring before normal working hours. Information will also be made available on OPM's World Wide Web site at http://www.opm.gov.

In addition to OPM's adjusted home departure announcements, staff in Beltsville, Greenbelt, and Glenn Dale should follow OPM announcements on Federal agency closures and unscheduled leave. These announcements will be reported by the news media.

Adjusted Work Dismissal. For emergencies occurring during the workday, the Deputy Administrator, AFM, ARS, must receive telephone concurrence from the Department before staff in Beltsville, Greenbelt, and Glenn Dale are released. You will be notified through supervisory channels when an adjusted work dismissal is authorized. Under an “adjusted work dismissal,” employees will be released from work early relative to the time they normally leave for the day. For example, if a 3-hour early dismissal is authorized due to a snowstorm, an employee who would normally leave at 5 p.m. would be able to leave at 2 p.m. This procedure parallels OPM's dismissal policy for the early release of employees who work inside the Beltway.

OPM Announcements. OPM will provide one of the following five announcements to the media when an emergency occurs before the workday begins:

1. “Federal agencies are open; employees are expected to report for work on time.”
   
   
2. “Federal agencies are operating under an unscheduled leave policy; employees may take leave without prior approval.” (Nonemergency employees may take annual leave or LWOP without their supervisor's prior approval, but employees should notify their supervisors of their intentions.)
   
   
3. “Federal agencies are operating under an adjusted home departure policy. Employees are requested to leave home _____ hours later than their normal departure time.” (Nonemergency employees should adjust their normal home departure time consistent with the announcement. Employees will be granted excused absence from the time they normally arrive at work until the time they actually arrive at work.)
   
   
4. “Federal agencies are operating under an adjusted home departure/unscheduled leave policy. Employees are requested to leave home ___ hours later than their normal departure time, and employees may take leave without prior approval.” (Federal agencies are open on time, but nonemergency employees should adjust their normal home departure time consistent with the announcement. Nonemergency employees arriving late will be excused without loss of pay or charge to leave, or they may take annual leave or LWOP without prior approval of their supervisors. Employees should notify their supervisors of their intentions.)
   
   
5. “Federal agencies are closed.” (Nonemergency employees are excused from work without loss of pay or charge to leave.)
   

When OPM invokes one of the above policies, employees who have been designated as “emergency” employees are expected to report to work on time unless otherwise instructed.

OPM's new procedures are designed to minimize transportation system interference during severe weather.

Procedures for Payment of Lump Sum Annual Leave,
Credit Hours, and/or Compensatory Time for
Employees who are Separating or Retiring

SEPARATING/RETIRING EMPLOYEES:

Action:    

Instructions for Completion of Form AD-581, Lump Sum Leave or Compensatory Time Payments for Separating/Retiring Employees

The only fields REQUIRED for completion are 1-8, 24, 25, 27-30, 32, and 33.

1.    Social Security Number

2.    Name

3.    03

4.    Date of Separation

5.    1 =    Final Lump Sum (for final payment of annual leave, compensatory time, and credit hours)

6.    Employee elects

0 =    Payment to be taxed according the Federal tax withholding in the data base calculated on an annual formula
1 =    28% Federal tax withheld
If no timely decision by employee:
Final Payment = Withhold at data base rate (0)
Interim Payment= Withhold at 28% (1)
Rationale: For final payment, the employee is likely to end up in a lower tax bracket due to reduced income in the year of separation. For interim payment (normally due to compensatory time or premium pay), employee is likely to be placed in a higher tax bracket.

7.    0 =    If there is no advanced sick leave

1 =    If the employee has advanced sick leave to be forgiven

8.    0 =    If the employee is not entitled to COLA upon separating (most common
situation)

1 =    If the employee is entitled to COLA upon separating

24.    Note: Normally code 1 is used

0 =    If accounting data will be shown in Block 25
1 =    If the accounting data stored in the data base will be used

25.    Complete only if Block 24 is coded "0"; enter appropriate accounting data.

27.    Indicate Retirement, Death, or Separation to ensure that processing is expedited

28.    4860

29.    Complete this block if employees are returning to a collaborator position soon after retirement and show proposed date of re-hire.

30.    Enter T&A contact point.


32.    Enter the amount brought forward, earned, used, and the balance for each type of leave category in the appropriate blocks.

33.    Signature and title of agency official (fundholder) authorized to approve payment.

Appendix G

Footnote: ¹ Employees dealing with certain types of family problems and emergency situations may also qualify for other types of leave, although annual leave is always an option. See Chapters 3 and 4 for details.

Footnote: ²Employees who are initially appointed for 89 days or less, but receive successive appointments which result in continuous service of more than 90 days, will earn annual
leave. Once the 90-day qualifying period has been completed, they will be credited with the leave earned during that period.

Footnote:   ³There is a single exception to this rule: an employee in the 6-hour leave category earns 10 hours of annual leave for the last full pay period in the leave year.

Footnote: ⁴Since part-time employees do not earn leave while in a nonpay status, these provisions do not apply to them.

Footnote: ⁵The term “family” here is interpreted very liberally. It refers to the employee's immediate family--blood relatives as well as relatives by marriage--and “any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.”

Footnote: ⁶The hour of uncharged leave is viewed as an excused absence.

Footnote: ⁷Since the 15-day entitlement may be taken at the beginning of a fiscal year, employees could conceivably take as much as 45 continuous days of military leave (i.e., 15 days of regular military leave, plus 15 days of carried over leave at the end of 1 fiscal year, plus the 15-day entitlement at the beginning of the next fiscal, for a total of 45 uninterrupted days of military service).

Footnote: ⁸Employees offering testimony on behalf of the U. S. Government or functioning in some other official capacity in a judicial proceeding are performing an approved and authorized official duty (see P&P 3450, “Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts,” for information on approval procedures needed to perform such duty). Since the employees in this context are, in effect, “at work” (albeit apart from the normal work place), court leave will not be necessary. Employees testifying in a nonofficial capacity on behalf of a private party in proceedings in which Federal, State, or local government is not involved are not entitled to court leave; the absence in such cases must be charged either to annual leave or LWOP.

Footnote: ⁹As stated, these provisions apply only to employees on court leave. Employees taking annual leave or LWOP can keep any fees associated with court appearances. On the other hand, employees whose presence in court is an official action related to regularly assigned duties are not eligible to receive fees, but are paid the regular salary (plus overtime).

Footnote: ¹⁰Several of the leave categories discussed earlier (e.g., military leave, court leave) “sound” very much like excused absence (i.e., absence is allowed without charge to leave and without loss of pay). The main difference rests with the legal basis for these types of leave. Military leave, funeral leave, home leave, etc., are established by law and must be granted to any employees who meet the basic criteria. Apart from scheduling considerations, managers have very limited choice in the matter. Excused absences, in contrast, are not spelled out in law but rely primarily on the administrative discretion of supervisors.

Footnote: ¹¹On rare occasions, a Federal facility may announce a delayed opening (i.e., offices will be closed from the beginning of the normal workday until a specified opening time later in the day). These occasions will be treated as office closures in accordance with this paragraph (i.e., the hours or minutes that the facility is closed will be regarded as nonwork time for the employees).

Footnote: ¹²Employees receive pay for the holiday only if they are in a pay status either the day before or the day after the holiday.

Footnote: ¹³This guidance assumes the standard Monday through Friday schedule; employees whose regular workweek includes weekends will be handled somewhat differently.
Contact a pay specialist in HRD for additional information.

Footnote: ¹⁴If the announcement of the holiday is too abrupt to allow this to occur, employees will take the workday following the holiday as the “in lieu of” holiday, or they may simply reschedule the off day.