KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- As we approach the end of the year, federal civil service employees should check their accrued annual leave and plan to use it if they’re nearing the maximum.
Employees may carry over to the new leave year a maximum of 240 hours of annual leave. Under certain circumstances, some personnel may carry over up to 360 hours.
All “use-or-lose” annual leave in excess of the maximum carry-over amount not used by the end of the leave year is forfeited. If, however, you forfeit annual leave because your supervisor cancelled it due to an emergency or urgent situation (or “exigency of the service”) or because you became ill, the leave may be restored under these circumstances:
• Request and schedule leave. You must have requested the leave and it must have been scheduled and approved in writing before the beginning of the third bi-weekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year. The 2017 leave year ends Jan. 6, 2018.
Therefore, you must have your use-or-lose annual leave scheduled and approved no later than Nov. 27 to be eligible for restoration if the leave is later canceled. Your supervisor is responsible for ensuring you have an opportunity to use all of your use-or-lose leave.
• Forfeiture because of an exigency of the service. Before canceling your scheduled annual leave, your supervisor must have the “exigency of the service” approved in writing. Only the 377th Air Base Wing commander or designee, tenant commanders or heads of activities have authority to approve “exigencies.”
Promptly after the end of the leave year, you must submit a written request to your supervisor to have your forfeited use-or-lose leave restored.
You will need to attach a copy of your approved leave schedule, your leave request (such as an approved Office of Personnel Management Form 71 or other proof the leave was scheduled and approved) and a copy of the approved “exigency” to your leave restoration request.
You must specify in your request the dates you lost scheduled leave, the number of hours lost on each date and why the leave could not be rescheduled before the end of the leave year. Your supervisor must endorse your request and forward it to the Civilian Personnel Section.
• Forfeiture because of illness. Promptly after the end of the leave year, submit a written request to your supervisor to have your forfeited use-or-lose leave restored.
To your request, you must attach a copy of your approved leave request, such as an OPM 71. You must specify in your request the dates you lost scheduled leave and numbers of hours lost on each date.
For illnesses in excess of three consecutive workdays, you must attach a copy of the medical documentation certifying your incapacity. If you are a bargaining unit employee covered by the Master Labor Agreement and were not seen by a doctor, a statement self-certifying the incapacity is acceptable.
• Taking restored leave. As a rule, you should use restored leave before using regularly accrued leave. You must use your restored leave within two years.
If you wish to donate use-or-lose annual leave at the end of the leave year, you can donate only the number of hours you are scheduled to work and receive pay. For example, if two weeks before the end of the leave year you have 100 hours of use-or-lose leave and you are scheduled to work for 60 hours, you may donate up to 60 hours.
Moreover, the amount of annual leave you may donate cannot exceed half the amount of leave you accrue during the year. For example, if you will accrue 104 hours of annual leave, you may donate up to a total of 52 hours.
The form for donating leave is the Office of Personnel Management Form 630-A. It can be found at opm.gov/forms/OPM-forms/.
For questions, contact your servicing EMR specialist in the Civilian Personnel Office at 846-9556.