Tornado cleanup in Moore, Okla. continues.

Tornado cleanup in Moore, Okla. continues. Charlie Riedel/AP

Feds Can Donate Leave to Tornado Victims

Obama directs OPM to establish emergency leave transfer for federal employees affected by Oklahoma disasters.

Federal employees who want to help fellow workers affected by the storms and tornadoes in Oklahoma can donate their unused annual leave.

President Obama on Monday directed the Office of Personnel Management to establish an emergency program to facilitate the transfer of leave among federal employees and provide guidance to agencies. The program would permit employees to donate their leave to other employees in their agency or in another agency, allowing federal workers hit by the disasters in Oklahoma to get time off from work without having to use their own paid leave.

Obama issued the same executive order after Superstorm Sandy in November 2012, and former President George W. Bush used the emergency leave transfer program after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.