Fedweek

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In addition to pay considerations, OMB guidance on the impact of the partial government shutdown addresses considerations involving employees who had scheduled to take leave during the holiday period—likely a large number.

Says the guidance, “All scheduled paid leave and other paid time off (including paid holiday time off) are cancelled for lapse-affected employees during a lapse in appropriations . . . In general, if the cancellation of annual leave due to a lapse causes an employee’s annual leave balance to exceed the applicable annual carry-over limit at the end of the leave year, such cancelled leave may be restored to the employee’s credit following agency procedures, since the lapse is considered an exigency of the public business. However, leave that had previously been restored may not be restored even if scheduled use of the previously restored leave is cancelled due to the lapse.”

The OMB guidance does not address insurance and retirement matters, although those policies have been unchanged for many years:

* FEHB coverage continues for all employees, with the employee share to be paid retroactively later if an employee’s pay for a pay period would not be large enough to cover it. Premiums under FEDVIP and FLTCIP insurance similarly accumulate but if a shutdown went on for a number of weeks, those programs would directly bill enrollees. FEGLI insurance continues without cost to the employee.

* There is no impact on an employee’s eventual retirement benefit unless an employee was on unpaid leave for more than six months in a calendar year. Also, the “high-3” for annuity calculation purposes is based on the salary rate, not the actual salary received, for up to six months of unpaid time.