FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, August 13, 1998

CONTACT: Bruce J. Milhans (202) 606-1800 bjmilhan@opm.gov

President Directs OPM to Provide Benefits Assistance for African Bombing Victims

Washington, D.C. -- President Bill Clinton has directed Office of Personnel Management Director Janice R. Lachance to establish a new emergency leave transfer program, and render other benefits assistance, to federal employees affected by the recent bombings directed at U.S. Embassies in Africa.

The President has created a new emergency leave transfer program under a statute enacted in 1997, Lachance said. This new program allows executive branch employees in any agency in the United States, or around the world, to transfer some of their unused annual leave to employees affected by the bombings who need additional time for recovery.

The new emergency authority allows recovering employees time off from the job without having to use their own annual leave. OPM will coordinate the government-wide collection and distribution of donated leave.

Unfortunately, federal employees and OPM have had too much recent experience with emergency situations, Lachance said. The President has responded in the past -- as he has again in the present circumstances -- by requesting all federal agency heads to provide excused absences for civilian employees who face personal emergencies or who are needed for emergency response efforts. And the federal community has responded on every occasion as an extended family to those in need.

My deepest sympathies are with my fellow federal employees and their families who have been affected by the bombings at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Lachance said. I am saddened by the loss of life and suffering caused by these senseless acts of violence.

OPM is sending out a memorandum providing guidance on these subjects, as well as providing updated information on other available benefits (workers compensation, retirement, health benefits, life insurance, emergency premium pay, contributions to relief organizations).

A copy of that memorandum is available upon request from OPMs Office of Communications.

Similar assistance (excepting the new leave authority) has been rendered to federal employees affected by the Missouri River flooding (July 1993); the Los Angeles earthquake (January 1994); Tropical Storm Alberto (September 1994); California floods (March 1995); the Oklahoma City federal building bombing (April 1995); Hurricane Opal (September 1995); and the Red River flooding (April 1997).

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