WH: The situation has evolved to the point where certain leave policies are no longer needed. Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffFederal agencies are no longer required to — although still may — grant federal employees excused absence to receive vaccinations against Covid during working hours, under an OPM policy issued along with an executive order revoking many of the last remaining White House directives arising from the pandemic.
Previously, there was a general entitlement for employees to receive up to four hours of excused absence — also called administrative leave — to be vaccinated during work time. That is now allowed with supervisory approval, which a memo on chcoc.gov “strongly” encourages.
Further, a special rule applies for positions where there is “an agency-specific mandatory requirement to get a COVID-19 vaccine,” it says. Those employees are to be granted credit for duty time, not excused absence, when approved to get a vaccination in work hours.
The memo ends prior requirements that employees be given up to four hours of administrative leave to accompany certain family members to be vaccinated; up to two days if an employee had an adverse medical reaction to a vaccination; or when an employee had symptoms and was in a quarantine period while seeking to be tested.
Supervisors now may approve use of sick leave for those purposes, and employees “may also choose to seek approval to use other paid or unpaid time off in lieu of sick leave or choose to use various work scheduling flexibilities,” says the memo.
It says the prior policies were “issued in a particular context—when the COVID 19 pandemic was a national emergency causing severe health outcomes on a broad scale. While COVID-19 continues to pose health concerns, the situation has evolved to the point where certain leave policies are no longer needed. At the same time, COVID 19 remains a public health threat of sufficient magnitude as to warrant continuation of certain other proactive policies.”
It adds: “The administration strongly encourages federal employees to get recommended doses of updated COVID-19 vaccines even when receiving those vaccines is not a job requirement. Such vaccines can protect both federal employees and those we serve. Vaccines remain the best tool we have in our toolbox to combat COVID-19. They are safe, effective, and free.”
The memo also reiterates prior guidance that “weather and safety leave”—a specific form of excused absence—”is no longer necessary or appropriate”; previously it had been granted in situations such as where employees who cannot telework had been exposed to the Coronavirus but had not shown symptoms of illness. “Current CDC guidance no longer recommends quarantine based on COVID-19 exposure, so the former policy is no longer necessary or applicable,” it says.
“Instead, such employees may request sick leave, use accrued annual leave or other forms of earned paid time off (e.g., compensatory time off or credit hours), access a voluntary leave bank, or use unpaid leave, as appropriate,” it says.
Senate Eyes Vote to Pay Federal Employees Working Unpaid
Series of Bills Offered to Address Shutdown’s Impact on Employees
Public Starting to Feel Impact of Shutdown, Survey Shows
OPM Details Coverage Changes, Plan Dropouts for FEHB/PSHB in 2026
Does My FEHB/PSHB Plan Stack Up? Here’s How to Tell
2025 TSP Rollercoaster and the G Fund Merry-go-Round
See also,
TSP Takes Step toward Upcoming In-Plan Roth Conversions
5 Steps to Protect Your Federal Job During the Shutdown
Over 30K TSP Accounts Have Crossed the Million Mark in 2025
