ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- The federal government offers a wide range of leave options to assist an employee who needs to be away from the workplace. Some of these leave options include annual leave, sick leave and leave without pay.
Employee requests for leave are submitted on OPM Form 71, Request for Leave or Approved Absence.
Annual Leave
An employee may use annual leave for vacations, rest and relaxation, and personal business or emergencies.
An employee has a right to take annual leave, subject to the right of the supervisor to schedule the time at which annual leave may be taken.
Employees are responsible for making timely requests for annual leave as far in advance as possible, in order for the supervisor to ensure the agency’s mission and their employees’ needs are met.
Sick Leave
An employee is entitled to use sick leave for personal medical needs, care of a family member, care of a family member with a serious health condition, adoption-related purposes and bereavement.
The sick leave usage limits each leave year are up to 13 days, or 104 hours, of sick leave for general family care and bereavement for each leave year and up to 12 weeks, or 480 hours, of sick leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition each leave year.
Note: An employee is not entitled to more than the combined total of 12 weeks of sick leave each leave year for all family care purposes. Furthermore, there is no limit for an employee’s own personal medical needs.
The right of the employee to take sick leave for non-emergency medical, dental or optical examination is subject to the requirement that sick leave be requested as much in advance as possible and the supervisor’s authority to approve or disapprove the leave based on the need for the employee’s services.
A routine medical appointment will usually not require a complete work day; except in unusual circumstances.
An employee may, in certain cases, want to charge part of a day’s absence to sick leave and the remainder of the day’s absence to annual leave or another appropriate leave category.
Employees not reporting for work because of illness or injury are required to notify their supervisor as soon as possible, normally not later than two hours after the beginning of their scheduled work shift.
A medical certificate is normally required to support an employee’s absence in excess of three consecutive workdays.
Leave Without Pay
The granting of leave without pay is discretionary on the part of the supervisor, except under certain circumstances.
The granting of LWOP is mandatory in the following situations:
• For a disabled veteran who needs medical treatment for their disabling condition
• To a reservist or National Guardsman/Guardswoman for military training duties when his/her military leave is exhausted and he/she does not have or does not wish to use annual leave
• Under the Family Medical Leave Act an employee is entitled to up to 12 weeks, or 480 hours, of LWOP during any 12-month period to provide care for certain family and medical needs.
• To an employee receiving workers’ compensation payments from the Department of Labor.
In accordance with ANADR 690-28, request for LWOP in excess of 30 days must be made in writing using SIOAN Form 690-2.
In the event of an emergency situation, whereby the employee is unable to come to work, the employee may telephone their supervisor with a verbal request and follow-up with a written request when he/she returns to work.
The employee must also submit their request for LWOP using OPM Form 71, Request for Leave or Approved Absence.
As a basic condition for approval of an extended period of LWOP, there must be a reasonable expectation that the employee will return to duty in an active, productive capacity at the end of the period of absence.
Disabled Veterans Leave Entitlement
Under the Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-75, Nov. 5, 2015), an employee hired on or after Nov. 5, 2016, who is a veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 30 percent or more from the Veterans Benefits Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs is entitled to up to 104 hours of disabled veteran leave for the purposes of undergoing medical treatment for such disability.
An eligible employee will receive the appropriate amount of disabled veteran leave as of the employee’s “first day of employment.”
Disabled veteran leave is a one-time benefit provided to an eligible employee.
The employee will have a single, continuous 12-month eligibility period, beginning on the “first day of employment” in which to use the leave or it will be forfeited with no opportunity to carry over the leave into subsequent years.
An employee will not receive a lump-sum payment for any unused or forfeited leave under any circumstance.
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