Leave Regs Issued

Interim rules issued in the March 21 Federal Register by the Office of Personnel Management carry out a change in law enacted last year that allows certain senior federal employees to accrue annual leave at the maximum rate—eight hours per biweekly pay period—regardless of how may years of federal service they have. Typically, federal employees need 15 years of service to accrue leave at that rate; the change was designed to encourage mid-career people to take or return to federal jobs. The provision applies to the Senior Executive Service, employees in senior level and senior scientific and professional positions, the Senior Foreign Service, the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service, the Senior Cryptologic Executive Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration Senior Executive Service, the Senior Intelligence Service, and to certain pay systems deemed equivalent to those systems. The higher accrual rate became effective October 30, 2004, the effective date of the authorizing law the Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of 2004.