Washington, D.C. 20530

November 9, 2001

MEMORANDUM FOR BUREAU PERSONNEL OFFICERS

This provides the attached interim regulations published by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) concerning restoration and use of restored annual leave by employees who are working to support the nation during the "National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks." The interim regulations provide that employees who would forfeit excess annual leave because they are engaged in such work will be deemed to have scheduled the excess leave in advance. They will be entitled to have the leave restored. On November 6, 2001, OPM published the attached correction notice in the Federal Register correcting the effective date of the interim regulations. The effective date is November 2, 2001, rather than the date of December 3, 2001, initially published in the Federal Register.

Many employees in Federal agencies are essential to on-going efforts to cope with the national emergency. As a result, many employees are faced with the possible forfeiture of "use or lose" annual leave because they must remain on the job to guarantee agencies can carry out their missions during this critical period and beyond. Under the existing rules, agencies would be burdened administratively with scheduling, canceling, and restoring "use or lose" annual leave for their affected employees when agency attention and efforts should all be focused on the national emergency. The interim regulations simplify the restoration of employees' forfeited annual leave, and impose relaxed time limitations for using restored annual leave. The provisions in the instant case are similar to those established at 5 CFR 630.309 for employees who were deemed essential to the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer conversion.

The interim regulations recognize the "National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks" as an exigency of the public business under 5 U.S.C. 6304(d)(1)(b), which justifies the restoration of any forfeited annual leave in excess of the maximum allowable limits. Further, it is known in advance that it is not possible for employees involved in the national emergency to be absent on leave. Therefore, requiring the scheduling and canceling of excess leave places an unnecessary burden on the employees and agencies involved. In support of both agencies' and employees' needs, the interim regulations provide that annual leave forfeited in a leave year as the result of the national emergency will be deemed to have been scheduled in advance for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 6304(d) and 5 CFR 630.308. Therefore, annual leave forfeited at the end of a leave year as a result of the national emergency will be restored under 5 U.S.C. 6304 and placed in a separate restored leave account.

The interim regulations also address the difficulty agencies and employees could encounter when employees attempt to use what could be sizable amounts of restored annual leave within the usual 2 year period. The interim regulations provide for an extended period by which employees will need to use restored annual leave, consistent with limits currently used by the Department of Defense for employees in installations undergoing closure or realignment. Affected employees who currently have an active restored leave account also will not lose previously restored leave under the interim regulations.

Please review the interim regulations and forward any concerns or comments by December 12, 2001, to Margaret Foskey, of the Personnel Staff's Policy Group, at the National Place Building, Suite 1110. If you have questions concerning this matter, you may contact Ms. Foskey on (202) 514-6778, or via e-mail at Margaret.Foskey2@usdoj.gov.

Attachment 1

Attachment 2

cc: Melinda Morgan
HRSAG

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