According to OPM’s guidance on leave flexibilities in the event of a flu pandemic, an employee may use any or all accrued sick leave if unable to perform duties or could infect others, and may use up to 13 days of sick leave each leave year to provide care for a family member who is ill or to attend the funeral of a family member.
An employee may use up to 12 workweeks of sick leave each leave year to care for a family member with a serious health condition, minus days of sick leave for care or bereavement already used, OPM said.
It said an employee may use any or all accrued annual leave for personal needs, such as rest and relaxation, vacations, medical needs, personal business or emergencies, or to provide care for a healthy or sick family member, including providing child care when a child care center is closed due to a pandemic.
An employee has a right to take annual leave, subject to the right of the supervisor to schedule the time at which annual leave may be taken, according to the guidance.
It said that if an employee has exhausted his or her accrued annual or sick leave, he or she may request advance annual and/or sick leave, not exceed the amount the employee will accrue during the remainder of the leave year up to 30 days.
If an employee has exhausted his or her available annual or sick leave or other forms of paid time off, he or she may enter non-pay status — and, an employee may use earned compensatory time off, compensatory time off for travel, and/or credit hours if he or she is unable to report for work as a result of a pandemic influenza, OPM said.
