[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 1, Parts 1 to 699]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR550.1203]

[Page 548-550]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
                CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
 
PART 550--PAY ADMINISTRATION (GENERAL)--Table of Contents
 
  Subpart L--Lump-Sum Payment for Accumulated and Accrued Annual Leave
 
Sec. 550.1203  Eligibility.

    (a) An agency must make a lump-sum payment for accumulated and 
accrued annual leave when an employee--(1) Separates or retires from the 
Federal service;
    (2) Dies; or
    (3) Transfers to a position that is not covered by subchapter I of 
chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, and his or her accumulated 
and accrued annual leave cannot be transferred, except as provided in 
paragraphs (c), (d), and (e) of this section.
    (b) The Department of Defense (DOD) must make a lump-sum payment to 
an employee who has unused annual leave that was restored under 5 U.S.C.

[[Page 549]]

6304(d)(3) when he or she transfers from a DOD installation undergoing 
closure or realignment to a position in any other department or agency 
of the Federal Government or moves to a position within DOD not located 
at an installation undergoing closure or realignment.
    (c) An employee who enters on active duty in the armed forces may 
elect to receive a lump-sum payment for accumulated and accrued annual 
leave or may request to have the annual leave remain to his or her 
credit until return from active duty. However, an agency must make a 
lump-sum payment for any annual leave previously restored under 5 U.S.C. 
6304(d) when the employee enters active duty. The agency may not 
recredit the restored leave when the employee returns to Federal 
service.
    (d) An employee who transfers to a position in a public 
international organization under 5 U.S.C. 3582 may elect to retain 
accumulated and accrued annual leave to his or her credit at the time of 
transfer or receive a lump-sum payment for such annual leave under 5 
U.S.C. 3582(a)(4). However, the agency must make a lump-sum payment for 
any annual leave previously restored under 5 U.S.C. 6304(d) when the 
employee transfers to the public international organization. The agency 
may not recredit the leave under these circumstances.
    (e) An agency must make a lump-sum payment to an employee who 
transfers to a position excepted from subchapter I of chapter 63 of 
title 5, United States Code, by 5 U.S.C. 6301(2)(x)-(xiii) for any 
annual leave restored under 5 U.S.C. 6304(d) upon transfer to an 
excepted position. However, the agency may not make a lump-sum payment 
for any annual leave in the employee's regular leave account upon 
transfer to the excepted position. The agency must hold such annual 
leave in abeyance for recredit if the employee is subsequently 
reemployed without a break in service in a position to which his or her 
accumulated and accrued annual leave may be transferred. If the employee 
later becomes eligible for a lump-sum payment under the conditions 
specified in this section, the current employing agency must make a 
lump-sum payment for the annual leave held in abeyance. The agency must 
compute the lump-sum payment under Sec. 550.1205(b) based on the pay the 
employee was receiving immediately before the date of the transfer to 
the position excepted by 5 U.S.C. 6301(2)(x)-(xiii). An employee who 
elects to retain his or her leave benefits upon accepting a Presidential 
appointment, as permitted by 5 U.S.C. 3392(c), is not entitled to 
receive a lump-sum payment.
    (f) In the case of an employee who transfers to a position that is 
not covered by subchapter I of chapter 63 of title 5, United States 
Code, and to which only a portion of his or her accumulated and accrued 
annual leave may be transferred, the agency must make a lump-sum payment 
for any remaining annual leave that cannot be transferred. The agency 
must compute the lump-sum payment under Sec. 550.1205(b) based on the 
pay the employee was receiving immediately before the date of the 
transfer to the position not covered by subchapter I of chapter 63 of 
title 5, United States Code. This does not apply to an employee 
transferring to an excepted position covered by paragraph (e) of this 
section.
    (g) An agency must make a lump-sum payment for accumulated and 
accrued annual leave to an employee in a missing status (as defined in 5 
U.S.C. 5561(5)) on or after January 1, 1965, or the employee may elect 
to have such leave restored in a separate leave account under 5 U.S.C. 
6304(d)(2) upon his or her return to Federal service. The agency must 
compute the lump sum payment under Sec. 550.1205(b) based on the rate of 
pay in effect at the time the annual leave became subject to forfeiture 
under 5 U.S.C. 6304(a), (b), or (c).
    (h) An agency may not make a lump-sum payment for accumulated or 
accrued annual leave to--(1) An employee who transfers between positions 
covered by subchapter I of chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code;
    (2) An employee who transfers to a position not covered by 
subchapter I of chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, but to which 
all of his or her accumulated and accrued annual leave may be 
transferred;

[[Page 550]]

    (3) An employee who transfers to the government of the District of 
Columbia or the U.S. Postal Service;
    (4) A nonappropriated fund employee of the Department of Defense or 
the Coast Guard who moves without a break in service of more than 3 days 
to an appropriated fund position within the Department of Defense or the 
Coast Guard, respectively, under 5 U.S.C. 6308(b); or
    (5) An employee who is concurrently employed in more than one part-
time position and who separates from one of the part-time positions. 
Instead, the former employing agency must transfer the employee's 
accumulated and accrued annual leave to the current agency (if the part-
time positions are in different agencies) or credit the employee's 
annual leave account in the current position (if the part-time positions 
are in the same agency).
    (6) An employee who elects to retain his or her leave benefits upon 
accepting a Presidential appointment, as permitted by 5 U.S.C. 3392(c).
    (i) An agency must establish a policy for determining when an 
employee in a continuing employment program with a mixed tour of duty 
will receive a lump-sum payment for annual leave. The agency may choose 
to pay an employee a lump-sum payment when he or she is assigned 
intermittent duty or hold the employee's annual leave in abeyance during 
intermittent duty and recredit it when the employee returns without a 
break in service to full-time or part-time employment. If the agency 
decides to hold the employee's annual leave in abeyance, it must also 
hold in abeyance the credit for any fractional pay period earned and 
recredit the annual leave on a pro rata basis, as provided in 
Sec. 630.204 of this chapter, when the employee returns to full-time or 
part-time employment. In developing its policy, each agency must 
consider the likelihood that the employee will return to work, as well 
as the agency's mission requirements and staffing needs. The agency's 
policy must ensure that employees are treated in a fair and equitable 
manner.