OPM increases leave cap for senior Defense employees
Executives can carry over 90 days, on par with Senior Executive Service rule.
Senior-level civilian Defense Department employees can roll over more unused annual leave under a new regulation issued by the Office of Personnel Management.
The regulation, published on Tuesday in the Federal Register, triples the number of hours that top scientific and professional and intelligence employees can carry over annually from 240 hours, or 30 days, to 720 hours, or 90 days.
"It's actually a technical fix to put senior-level employees on equal footing with the Senior Executive Service carryover ceiling for annual leave," said Mike Orenstein, an OPM spokesman.
Like the SES, senior Defense positions accrue eight hours of leave each biweekly pay period.
Employees who move to jobs covered by the regulation can keep annual leave they already accrued as long as the amount falls within the limit set for their former job. If senior employees leave for positions with different accrual limits, they keep unused leave within the limit for their new position.
The rule enforces a section of the National Defense Authorization Act, which President Bush signed in late January.
The legislation also made wounded veterans eligible to receive voluntary leave transfers even if they have unused paid leave, and expanded the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act to provide federal employees up to 26 weeks of leave in a calendar year to care for family members who have served in the military and sustained serious injuries or illnesses.