Leave Carryover Temporarily Rises

Service members may now carry over unused annual leave from fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for 75 days instead of 60 days, until Dec. 31, 2010. Special leave accrual (SLA) retention has also been extended to four years, up from three, for most special leave earned between Oct. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2010. There is one exception: Any special leave earned in support of a contingency operation may be kept for two years; previously, such leave could only be retained for one year. Enlisteds who would lose any unused leave they accrued in excess of 120 days can sell up to 30 days of that leave back to the government. This one-time sellback opportunity will count towards the 60-day sellback cap authorized over a career. The changes were approved in the 2008 defense bill. For details, see NAVADMIN 221/08 on the Web.