DPM CHAPTER 630 - LEAVE

SUBCHAPTER 9 - VOLUNTARY LEAVE TRANSFER PROGRAM

1. PURPOSE

The purpose is to provide policy and guidance on the provisions of title 5 Chapter 63, Subchapter III on voluntary leave transfers. This provision of law permits employees to donate annual leave to other Federal employees or to a leave bank. The donated leave must be used by recipients who, due to a personal or family medical emergency, would be required to take a nonpaid absence of 24 hours or more.

2. GENERAL PROVISIONS

a. Authorities and references

(1) 5 U.S.C. 6331-40

(2) 5 CFR Part 630, Subpart I

(3) Public Law 103-103, October 8, 1993

b. Definitions

(1) Employee means an employee as defined by section 6301(2), excluding an individual
employed by the government of the District of Columbia;

(2) Leave recipient means a current employee whose application to receive
donations of leave is approved by the supervisor and the Agency designee;

(3) Leave donor means an employee whose application to make one or more donations of annual
leave is approved;

    (4) Medical emergency means a medical condition of an employee or a family member of such
    employee, that is likely to require the nonpaid absence of 24 hours or more of such employee
    from duty and to result in a substantial loss of income to such employee because of the
    unavailability of paid leave (disregarding any advanced leave);

    (5) Family member means a spouse, parents, parents of the spouse, children, including adopted
    children, siblings and their spouse and anyone related by blood or affinity whose close association
    with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship;

    (6) Available paid leave means accrued or accumulated annual or sick leave. It
    does not include annual or sick leave advanced to an employee or any
    annual or sick leave accrued under the special 40-hour set aside accounts,
    which is not available for use until the employee leaves the program;

(7) Shared leave status means the administrative status of an employee while the employee is
using transferred leave.

c. Coverage

This program applies to all USDA employees who are covered by 5 U.S.C. 6301(2).

3. POLICIES

    a. A full-time employee must be absent from duty (or expected to be absent from duty), because
    of a medical emergency, without available paid leave, for at least 24 hours. For part-time employees
    or employees with uncommon tours of duty, the absence without paid leave is at least 30 percent of
    the average number of hours of work in the employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty.

    b. A leave recipient (full-time employee) should not receive more than a calendar year (2087 hours)
    of donated leave for any given medical emergency. After one year of absence, the Agency should
    consider alternatives, i.e., disability retirement. The maximum number of hours a part-time employee
    may receive is calculated based on the average number of hours of work in the employee's biweekly
    scheduled tour of duty, multiplied by the number of pay periods in the leave year.

c. If the Agency requires medical certification to verify the emergency from more than one source, the
Agency will reimburse the recipient or pay the practitioner directly for the additional certification(s).

d. A leave recipient or someone designated to act on behalf of the recipient is responsible for locating
leave donors.

4. PROCEDURES

a. Application to be a recipient.

    A potential leave recipient must submit a written application to the employing Agency personnel officer or
    designee. The application should be submitted no later than 90 days after the beginning of the medical
    emergency. If the employee is incapacitated and cannot submit an application, a representative may do so
    on his or her behalf. An application to become a recipient should include:

    (1) the applicant's name, position title, organizational title, series, grade or pay level, social security number,
    office address and phone number, address, phone number, and e-mail address where the leave recipient can
    be reached during the medical emergency, and the name, phone number, and e-mail address of the
    leave recipient's timekeeper;

(2) the anticipated or actual duration of the medical emergency;

(3) the periods for which donated leave is requested to be substituted retroactively for advance sick or
annual leave or leave without pay, if any;

(4) the date the medical emergency began to affect the employee;

(5) the number of leave hours the recipient has requested;

(6) the date of the request;

(7) brief description of the nature and severity of the medical emergency;

    (8) documentation of the medical emergency, i.e., a certificate from one or more physicians or other
    appropriate experts specifying the medical condition, the prognosis, anticipated duration of the condition,
    and if a recurring one, the approximate frequency of the medical emergency;

(9) certification that the recipient is not receiving unemployment benefits or workers' compensation in
connection with the medical emergency for which he or she is requesting leave to be donated;

(10) a certification or statement from the supervisor that other leave options, specifically, the Family and
Medical Leave Act, and Family Friendly Leave, have been discussed with the employee;

(11) any additional information required by the Agency personnel officer or designee;

(12) the signature of the recipient's supervisor indicating approval. This signature signifies that the employee
may participate in the program, however, the use of the leave is subject to the provisions of Section 5a.

b. Disposition of application to be a recipient.

(1) The potential leave recipient's Agency personnel officer or designee must review the application to determine:

(a) that the employee or employee's family member has been affected by a medical emergency;

        (b) that the employee's absence from duty without paid leave because of a medical emergency is, or is expected
        to be at least 24 hours, or for part-time employees or employees with uncommon tours of duty, the
        absence without paid leave is at least 30 percent of the average number of hours of work in the
        employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty;

    (2) The Agency personnel officer or designee must notify the applicant (or the applicant's personal
      representative) in writing of the approval or disapproval within 10 working days of receiving the
     complete application package. If disapproved, the reason for disapproval must be given.

c. Application to be a donor.

    Prospective donors must submit a voluntary, written application to donate a specific number of hours of
    annual leave to the leave account of a particular recipient to their Agency personnel officer or designee.
    Employees with use or lose annual leave are limited to donating only as many hours of annual leave as
    they would be scheduled to work for the remainder of the leave year. The donor application should include:

    (1) the donor's name, position title, series and grade, social security number, annual leave balance, annual leave
    category, organization, work address, phone number and e-mail address, timekeeper's name, phone
    number, and e-mail address; relationship of donor to recipient, e.g., co-worker, supervisor;

(2) certification that the donation is voluntary;

(3) the number of hours of annual leave to be donated; and,

    (4) a written acknowledgment by the donor that except for any leave unused by the recipient, the donor
    has no right under any circumstances (including a medical emergency for the donor) to have any of the
    donated leave restored.

d. Disposition of application to be a donor.

(1) The prospective donor's Agency personnel officer or designee must review the donor's application
to determine:

(a) that the donor's application is complete;

(b) that the donor has sufficient leave to make the donation;

(c) that the limitations of Section 6c(1) and (2) have been observed, unless a waiver has been
approved, as provided in Section 6d;

(d) the donor has provided instruction regarding the disposition of the leave should it not be possible to
donate it to the intended recipient.

(2) The Agency personnel officer or designee should notify the donor of his or her decision on the
application promptly. Notices denying the donation should state the reasons for the denial.

e. Monitoring the use of transferred leave.

    (1) Agencies may require leave recipients to submit periodic reports on the status of their medical
    emergencies. If a leave recipient is incapacitated in whole or part and cannot submit the report, he or
    she may designate a person to do so.

    (2) a leave recipient must promptly notify his/her supervisor and the Agency personnel officer or
    designee when he/she begins to receive unemployment benefits or workers' compensation related to
    the medical emergency, or when the medical emergency ends.

f. Restoration of unused leave.

If, at the end of a medical emergency, unused transferred leave remains in the recipient's donated leave account, the Agency personnel officer or designee must arrange to have the leave returned to the donors' accounts following the guidelines in Section 9.

5. USE OF DONATED LEAVE

a A leave recipient may use annual leave donated to his/her account in the same way and for the same purposes as if he or she had accrued regular annual leave, subject to supervisory approval. The employee's continued absence from the job and its impact on the efficiency of the service must be considered in granting or denying leave. Donated leave may be used only for:

(1) approved absences related to the medical emergency for which the employee made application for
the voluntary leave transfer program;

(2) after the recipient's own accrued and restored annual leave, and where appropriate, sick leave,
has been exhausted.

b The approval and use of donated annual leave is subject to the conditions and requirements of regularly accrued annual leave, except that transferred annual leave is not subject to the limit on accumulation of 240 hours per year for employees in the United States and 360 hours per leave year for employees serving overseas.

c Donated annual leave may be used on a current basis. Donated annual leave may also be used to retroactively substitute for periods of leave without pay or to liquidate an indebtedness for advanced annual or sick leave associated with the current medical emergency. However, the employee must clearly request that the donated leave will be used for the retroactive substitution of advanced leave. An Agency may apply this leave retroactively back to the beginning of the medical emergency if the recipient provides sufficient medical documentation. An employee whose application for disability retirement is pending, should be cautioned concerning the possible impact of transferred leave on the beginning date of his/her annuity (see Retirement Counselor Letter dated April 5, 1989).

6. LIMITATIONS

a. Approving officials have the discretion to approve all or part of a leave donor's donation of
annual leave.

b. A donor may donate only unused annual leave that is in his/her account at the time of the
donation.

c. In any one leave year, a donor may not donate more than:

(1) one-half of the amount of annual leave he/she would be entitled to accrue during the leave
year in which the donation is made;

(2) in the case of a donor who expects to have annual leave that otherwise would be subject
to forfeiture at the end of the leave year, no more than the number of hours remaining in the leave
year for which the leave donor is scheduled to work and receive pay. Example: A donor wishes
to donate 108 hours of annual leave subject to forfeiture two weeks before the end of the leave
year. The donor may donate only 80 hours since there are only 80 hours left in the leave year.

d Waiver of the limitation in Section 6c may be granted under unusual circumstances.

    (1) When the donated leave does not exceed the number of hours required to keep the recipient in
    a pay status for the remainder of the medical emergency and there is an insufficient amount of
    leave available from other donors;

(2) Requests for waivers must be documented in writing including description of unusual
circumstances and justification for waiving normal limitations;

(3) Requests for waivers must be approved/disapproved in writing by the
requestor's Agency personnel officer or designee.

e. In the case of a medical emergency affecting the employee, he/she must exhaust all annual and
sick leave before becoming a leave recipient.

f. In the case of a medical emergency affecting a family member, an employee must exhaust all
annual leave and all but 40 hours of sick leave before becoming a leave recipient.

g 40-Hour Set Aside Account. The maximum amount of annual and sick leave that may
be accrued by an employee while on donated leave in connection with any particular
medical emergency may not exceed 40 hours (or, in the case of a part-time employee
or an employee with an uncommon tour of duty, the average number of hours in the
employee's weekly scheduled tour of duty). This leave is placed in a special, separate
account for the employee. It may not be used during the period of time the employee
is in a shared leave status, unless there is no donated leave available.

h An employee may not participate as a recipient in the leave transfer program
if he or she is receiving unemployment benefits or workers' compensation for the
medical emergency for which he or she requests transferred annual leave.

i. Employees may not donate leave to their immediate supervisors.

j. Donated annual leave may not be:

(1) donated to a leave recipient other than the person specified to receive the leave unless the
donor has given his/her approval and it is documented;

(2) included in a lump-sum payment;

(3) made available for recredit upon reemployment of a donor or leave recipient by a Federal
agency.

7. LEAVE TRANSFERRED FROM AND TO OTHER FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS

a. The transfer of annual leave from a leave donor of another Federal department must be accepted when:

(1) the amount of annual leave donated by USDA leave donors does not meet a leave recipients's needs
as requested and approved;

(2) a family member from another Department requests to donate annual leave to a leave recipient;

(3) in the judgment of the recipient's Agency personnel officer or designee acceptance of leave transferred
from another Department would further the purpose of the voluntary leave transfer program.

b. Before accepting the transfer of annual leave from a leave donor of another Department, the recipient's
Agency personnel officer or designee must, in addition to determining that the requirements in Section 4 have
been met, verify that the donor's Department has approved the donor's request to transfer annual leave to a
specified USDA leave recipient.

c. Before a transfer of annual leave may be made from a donor in USDA to a leave recipient in another Department, the donor's Agency personnel officer or designee must notify the leave recipient's employing agency in writing of the amount of annual leave to be credited to the recipient's annual leave account, and debit the donor's annual leave account.

8. TERMINATION OF MEDICAL EMERGENCY

a. Leave recipient status ends:

(1) at the end of the pay period in which the leave recipient or his/her personal representative notifies
the supervisor and Agency personnel officer or designee that his/her medical emergency is over;

(2) when the leave recipient's Federal employment is terminated;

(3) at the end of the biweekly pay period in which the Department is notified by the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) that it has approved the leave recipient's application for disability retirement;

(4) on the date that the employee begins to receive unemployment benefits or workers' compensation
for the medical emergency for which he or she had been approved to become a leave recipient;

    (5) at the end of the pay period in which the leave recipient's Agency personnel officer or designee
    determines, after written notice and an opportunity for the recipient (or if appropriate, his/her
    personal representative) to answer orally or in writing, that the leave recipient is no longer affected
    by a medical emergency.

b. Any annual or sick leave accrued by a leave recipient while using donated leave must be transferred
from the special, separate account to the employee's regular leave account, effective as of the beginning of
the first applicable pay period beginning after the medical emergency ends, unless the employee leaves the
Federal service. If the employee leaves the employment rolls before being able to use the annual leave in the
separate account, the employee is entitled to a lump- sum payment for the annual leave that has accumulated
in the separate account.

9. RESTORATION OF DONATED ANNUAL LEAVE

a. Any donated annual leave remaining to the credit of a leave recipient when the medical
emergency ends must be restored to the annual leave accounts of eligible leave donors as provided
in this section.

b. If the number of donors eligible for restoration exceeds the number of hours of annual leave to be
restored, no unused donated annual leave will be restored, and the leave is dropped from the record.

c. The amount of the unused donated annual leave to be restored to each donor must be determined as
follows: Divide the number of hours of unused donated annual leave by the total number of hours of annual
leave donated to the recipient; multiply the result by the number of hours of annual leave transferred from
each donor eligible for restoration; and round the result down to the nearest hour.

d. If the leave donor retires from Federal service, dies, or is otherwise separated from Federal service
before the unused, donated annual leave can be restored, such leave will not be recredited to that donor.

e. Unused donated leave will be recredited to donors.

f. Donors may elect to have unused donated annual leave recredited to them in any of the following ways,
or a combination thereof, and must be appraised of the options in writing:

(1) crediting the annual leave to the donor's account in the current year;

(2) crediting the restored annual leave to the donor's annual leave account, effective as of the first day of
the first leave year after the date of the donor's election;

(3) donating the unused donated annual leave in whole or in part to another leave recipient. Donors wishing
to exercise this option must complete a new donor application.

g Donated annual leave that is recredited to the account of a leave donor under Sections 9f(1) or (2) is subject to the 240-hours limitation per leave year for employees in the United States and 360-hours limitation per leave year for employees overseas.

10. FILES

a. Files for this program constitute a system of records under the Privacy Act.

b. Files must be maintained in the recipient's Agency personnel office and must be kept separate from other
personnel files.

c. The following documents must be kept in the leave transfer file of each leave recipient:

(1) recipient application and all supporting documentation;

(2) donor application(s);

(3) periodic reports, if required by the agency, from the leave recipient on the status of his/her medical
emergency as required by Section 4f(1);

(4) any other correspondence associated with the case.

d. Files must be maintained for 3 years after the medical emergency ends, or 3 years after the establishment of the file, whichever is later.

11. FORMS

Departmental Forms AD-1043, Donor Application; AD-1045, Transaction Register, and AD-1046, Recipient
Application have been developed for use of with the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (copies attached). Agencies
are permitted to modify or design their own forms as long as the required information is gathered and documented.

12. REPORTS

So that this program can be evaluated, each agency will maintain records regarding this program, and provide reports as requested.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY

Any person involved in the processing a leave transfer will protect the confidentiality of all related communications with the leave recipient and all other parties to the leave transfer, and the right of the individuals to privacy. Persons with access to information related to the leave transfer may not disclose that information to anyone except those who have a need to know and those with express written permission of the applicant or recipient for the release of specific information. Individuals granted access should be counseled of the requirements of this paragraph.