Hi! The holiday season is upon us, and so is the time of year for questions surrounding Use or Lose Annual Leave, Holiday Time Off and Open Season benefit changes.

FEDERAL BENEFITS OPEN SEASON

The annual open-enrollment season for federal employees will start on November 10, 2008 and run through December 8, 2008. Because the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) includes many more options than just health insurance, you will want to take a close look at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) web page dealing with health benefits programs. You may access lots of valuable information including the 2009 rates by clicking on the following links http://www.opm.gov/insure/index.asp http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/

HOLIDAY TIMEOFF WITH PAY

Pay on a Holiday

Full-time employees who are not required to work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay for the applicable number of holiday hours.

On a holiday, employees under a standard work schedule (i.e. 40-Hour/5-Day Week) are generally excused from 8 hours of non-overtime work, which are considered part of the 40-hour basic workweek.

On a holiday, employees under compressed work schedules are generally excused from all of the non-overtime hours they would otherwise work on that day and which apply to their "basic work requirement." (I.e. if a holiday falls on a 9- or 10-hour basic workday, the employee's holiday is 9 or 10 hours, respectively). 

A part-time employee is entitled to a holiday when the holiday falls on a day when he or she would otherwise be required to work or take leave. This does not include overtime work. Part-time employees who are excused from work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay for the hours they are regularly scheduled to work on that day.

If a holiday falls on a non-workday, part-time employees are not entitled to an "in lieu of" holiday. If an agency's office or facility is closed due to an "in lieu of" holiday for full-time employees, the agency may grant paid excused absence to part-time employees who are otherwise scheduled to work on that day. (63 Comp. Gen. 306 (1984).)

PAY FOR HOIDAY WORK

"Holiday work" means non-overtime work performed by employees during their regularly scheduled daily tour of duty on a holiday. (See 5 CFR 550.103.)

For each hour of holiday work, employees receive holiday premium pay. Holiday premium pay is equal to an employee's rate of basic pay. Employees who are required to work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay, plus holiday premium pay, for each hour of holiday work

An employee who is required to perform any work during basic (non-overtime) holiday hours are entitled to a minimum of 2 hours of holiday premium pay.

Part-time employees do not receive holiday premium pay for working on an "in lieu of" holiday for full-time employees.

For more information on holidays go to the following link: Pay on a Holiday

USE OR LOSE ANNUAL LEAVE

Supervisors and employees are both should take the responsibility schedule Use or Lose Annual leave employees now while there is still time to schedule. All use or lose annual leave

Supervisors and employees are responsible for ensuring that any anticipated use or lose annual leave is officially scheduled and approved by November 22, 2008 , with their for use during the remainder of the leave year.  Any annual leave in excess of 240 hours will be lost by the employee if not used by the end of the leave year which is January 3, 2009.

There are very limited conditions under which an employee may have lost annual leave restored for later use, but those situations are rare. More information on the conditions of restoration of lost annual leave may be found at http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/html/RESTORE.asp

Please note that for annual leave to be restored only if the annual leave was scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year which is November 22, 2008.

Now is the time to review leave balances and leave records to ensure they are being reconciled every pay period.