Blood Donation:
Employees who donate blood may be granted excused absence to cover travel to and from the donation site, the donation of blood and recovery. This provision is not intended to cover an employee whose donations involve the need for recurring absence over an extended period (e.g., semi-weekly over 4 months) or situations in which the employee has blood stored for his/her own use. Authority to excuse an employee for blood donations rests with immediate supervisor. The maximum excusable time will not exceed 4 hours except in unusual circumstances.
Organ Donations:
With the passing of Public Law 106-56, an employee may use 30 days of paid time off each calendar year to serve as an organ donor.
OPM does not believe there is a need to regulate this entitlement, nor does DoD plan to establish a separate leave category for tracking this entitlement. When used, this entitlement needs to be recorded in the time and attendance systems the same way other types of excused absences (e.g. blood donations) are recorded. Although this absence is being administratively recorded as excused absence (administrative leave), leave approving officials need to understand this is a statutory right of an employee. Leave approving officials must ensure authorized limits are not exceeded. In cases where medical procedures and recuperation requiring absences longer than 30 days, we encourage agencies to continue to accommodate employees by granting additional time off in the form of sick and/or annual leave and/or advance sick and/or annual leave, donated annual leave or leave without pay.
Bone Marrow Donation:
Bone marrow donors are entitled to seven (7) days of paid leave each calendar year to serve as a bone marrow donor. In cases where medical procedures and recuperation require absences longer than 7 days, we encourage agencies to continue to accommodate employees by granting additional time off under other leave policies; i.e., annual, sick, advanced leave, donated leave, LWOP.
To maximize the Army�s opportunity to contribute to these potentially lifesaving activities, we urge supervisors to make employees aware of the current availability of excused absence and leave for these medical donor programs.