OPM Releases Guidance for Use-or-Lose Leave

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) last week released guidance to agencies on the implementation of the NTEU-supported provision that allows most federal employees to carry over up to 125 percent of the 240-hour annual leave cap into 2021. For most employees, the cap is now 300 hours or 37.5 days of annual leave for this year.

Under the guidance, additional leave that is carried over under the higher ceiling is different than leave that is forfeited and then restored under existing law and regulation. The carried over leave must be used during 2021 before any other annual leave available to the employee. 

If an employee has forfeited leave that qualifies for restoration, the restoration rules are applied first. The 125-percent ceiling then applies to any remaining leave that would otherwise be lost because it exceeds the 240-hour ceiling. Also, leave carried over under the congressional provision may not be paid out in a lump sum or donated under a leave transfer program.