NIH Fellows Handbook

Leave Policy

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Among those employees who are exempt from the leave law are employees who do not have established tours of duty or training position fellows; e.g., Commissioned Corps Officers, Postdoctoral Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Biotechnology Fellows, Epidemiology Fellows, Special Volunteers, etc.) and congressional employees. For information on leave policy for these groups, see "Appointment Mechanisms."

For most other civil servants of the federal government, provisions have been made for authorized absence from work, usually through earned leave.

These provisions enable employees to take off for vacations or personal business, or when they are ill.

Annual Leave

Annual leave is earned on the basis of years of federal service as follows:

• Full-Time Employees:

  If Service Is	THEN
  Less than 3 years:	4 hours earned per pay period
  Between 3 and 15 years	6 hours earned per pay period
  More than 15 years	8 hours earned per pay period

• Part-Time Employees:

  If Service Is	THEN
  Less than 3 years	1 hour earned for each 20 hours in pay status
  Between 3 and 15 years	1 hour earned for each 13 hours in pay status
  More than 15 years	1 hour earned for each 10 hours in pay status

• Employees are permitted to accumulate annual leave, but within certain limitations. The law permits employees to accumulate 30 days of annual leave. Under this system, employees have to "use or lose" their excess leave by the end of the leave year with certain exceptions.

  A law enacted December 14, 1963, provides for the restoration of annual leave which is forfeited when employees are unable to use the leave because of illness or exigencies of the public business, if that leave was scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year. The law also permits the restoration of annual leave in correcting an administrative error. The restored leave is placed in a special account and normally must be used within two years. The law also provides that new employees may use their annual leave as they earn it during their first 90 days if their appointments are for 90 days or longer. Upon separation, employees are entitled to payment for all annual leave credited to their accounts, including the carry-over balance, the unused leave accrued during the year, and any unused restored leave. In the event of an employee's death, survivors are entitled to payment for all the annual leave which is credited to the employee at the time of death.

• Annual leave must be authorized in advance and before it is started, generally by the employee's immediate supervisor except for emergencies.

• Annual leave may be advanced only in an amount that will not exceed the leave the employee can be expected to accrue by the end of the leave year.

• Annual Leave may be requested and approved in 15-minute increments.

Sick leave is earned on the basis of 4 hours per pay period for full-time employees and 1 hour for each 20 hours in pay status for part-time employees. There is no limit on the amount of sick leave that can be accumulated. No lump sum payment is made for unused sick leave when employees leave the federal service

• Authorization for sick leave is not usually obtained in advance, unless the employee knows he or she will be unable to work because of medical, dental, or optical examinations or treatment, an operation, convalescence, lengthy illness, or something similar.

• Employees absent from work for more than 5 consecutive working days because of illness may be required to submit written medical documentation, validating the absence.

• Sick leave, not to exceed 30 days, may be advanced to employees in case of serious disability or ailment.

• Sick leave may be requested and approved in 15-minute increments.

Family Medical Leave

In addition to other paid time off available, employees (excluding Commissioned Corps Officers, intermittent employees, employees with temporary appointments of less than 13 months, and individuals not appointed by the Government) with at least 3 months of civilian service are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within any 12 month period for the birth and care of a child; making arrangements for adoption or foster care; the care of a spouse, son, daughter, or parent of the employee with a serious health condition; or the employee's own serious health condition.

New Leave Entitlements

Under the Federal Employees Family-Friendly Leave Act, eligible employees (those subject to the Federal Civil Service leave system) may now use their sick leave to care for a family member, to make arrangements necessitated by the death of a family member, or to attend the funeral of a family member. In the past, employees could use their sick leave to care for a family member only if the person had a contagious disease.

Under the new rules, all employees may use 40 hours of paid sick leave during the leave year to care for a family member because of physical or mental illness; injury; pregnancy; childbirth; or medical, dental, or optical examination or treatment. Employees who maintain a sick leave balance of at least 80 hours are eligible to use an additional 64 hours of sick leave for the above reasons.

Two additional significant changes in leave entitlements are:

• Eligible employees are entitled to up to 7 days of paid leave each calendar year to serve as a bone marrow or organ donor.

• Employees may use accrued or accumulated sick leave for purposes relating to the adoption of a child.

Leave Sharing

• The Leave Transfer Program is designed to help employees who are experiencing a medical or family emergency and who have exhausted all of their available leave. They can receive donations of annual leave from fellow employees to help ease financial hardships that would be caused by being forced to take extended leave without pay or resigning from their jobs.

  An employee wishing to receive leave under this program must make written application to the agency describing the reasons why the leave is needed and may be required to submit certification from physicians or other appropriate experts to provide justification.

  To make a donation, an employee submits a request to the agency that a specified number of hours of his or her accrued annual leave be transferred to a specified recipient. Annual leave may not be transferred to the donor's immediate supervisor.

  An employee who receives and uses such leave continues to be paid at his or her pay rate as if in work status. When the medical emergency ends any unused transferred leave is restored to the donors on a prorated basis.

  Contact your personnel Generalist for more information regarding this program.

Under the Leave Bank Program, employees may make a special contribution of annual leave to the agency's leave bank in order to become leave bank members. Should such a member then experience a medical or family emergency, he or she can apply to the leave bank for withdrawal of annual leave from the bank. Banked leave also can be distributed to fellow employees in much the same way as under the leave transfer program.

Court Leave

Employees summoned to court as witnesses on behalf of the U.S. government, the District of Columbia, a state or local government or a private party in a judicial proceeding, or to serve on a jury are authorized to receive pay during such absence from work status without charge to leave. Any fees payable for such service must be collected and turned into the employing agency. Any payments designated as expenses by the court or other appropriate authority may be retained.

Leave Without Pay (LWOP)

Employees may be granted leave without pay at their request and at the discretion of your leave approving official. It may be granted whether or not the employees have annual or sick leave to their credit. Extended leave without pay may be approved for such purposes as attending to parental or other family responsibilities, education which would be of benefit to the agency, recovery from illness or disability or protection of employee status and benefits pending action on claims for disability retirement or injury compensation.

Administrative Leave

Religious Observance Leave

To the extent that modifications in work schedules do not interfere with accomplishing an agency's mission, a federal agency must approve an employee's request to adjust work schedules for purpose of taking time off without charge to leave or entitlement to overtime pay when the employee's personal religious beliefs require that they abstain from work during certain periods of a workday or workweek. Any employee who elects to work alternative hours for this purpose is entitled to an equal amount of time off (hour for hour) from his or her scheduled tour of duty. An employee may work such alternative hours (compensatory time) before or after the grant of compensatory time off. A grant of compensatory time off must be repaid by the appropriate amount of work within a reasonable period.