Unusable Leave Can Be Donated

OPM has suggested that employees who will be unable to use all their “use or lose” annual leave by the time the current federal leave year ends — January 11 for most — consider donating that time to an agency leave bank or leave sharing program “to benefit colleagues who are experiencing a medical emergency.” The suggestion came in a recent memo to agencies responding to inquiries about the impact of sequestration and the partial shutdown on policies regarding restoration of leave that otherwise would be forfeited. OPM said that those events do not change the general policies, which allow for restoration in certain circumstances when employees are prevented from using annual leave—although only if the leave was scheduled by a cutoff date, which this year was November 30. Most employees can carry no more than 240 hours of accumulated annual leave from one year to the next, although higher limits apply to some. In addition to medical conditions, donated annual leave can be used for certain other types of personal emergencies. There is no limit on accumulation of sick leave, and that type of leave cannot be donated.