NOAA Workforce Management Office
Serving NOAA's Most Valuable Asset - People
Time-Off Awards
The Time-Off Award is an alternative to the Cash-in-Your-Account and Special Act Awards. This award is an excused absence granted without charge to leave or loss of pay.
Eligibility
All NOAA employees are eligible for this award except:
- Officers appointed by the President by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, or by the President alone,
to positions for which rates of basic compensation may exceed the maximum rate provided in the General Schedule
- Employees who do not have a regular, established tour
of duty prescribed in advance (i.e., employees who are intermittent)
- Employees paid on a fee basis
- NOAA Corps Officers
- Senior Executives
Policy
- A full-time employee may receive as few as 4 hours (half
day) and as many as 40 hours of excused leave per award.
A full-time employee may not receive in excess of 80 hours
in Time-Off Awards per leave year.
- A part-time or an employee with an uncommon tour of duty
may not exceed the average number of hours of work in the
employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty.
- The minimum time-off award is a half day (half of the scheduled
work hours for the employee on the day of the excused
absence). If the employee's work day is not an even number
of hours, the half day must be rounded up so that the amount of leave granted is in multiples of one-hour units.
- Time off granted as an award must be scheduled and taken within 1 year after the effective date of the award. Scheduling time off is subject to supervisory approval.
DOC Performance Management Handbook (Recognition Section) Chapter 13
Award Values and Limitations
- Appendices B and C of the Department of Commerce Performance Management Handbook, Performance Recognition Section provide a scale to use in determining award amounts.
- Assistant Administrators (AAs) and NOAA Staff Office Directors may approve Time Off Awards. This authority may be further delegated as determined by the individual Line or Staff Office.
- A full-time employee may receive between 4 and 40 hours in a single Time Off Award (a part-time employee may receive between the equivalent of a half day (rounded up to the nearest full hour) and the equivalent of a full work week in a single Time Off Award).
- A full-time employee may not receive in excess of 80 hours in Time-Off Awards per leave year (a part-time or an employee with an uncommon tour of duty may not exceed the average number of hours of work in the employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty).
- Time off granted as an award must be scheduled and approved by the employee's supervisor and must be taken within one year after the effective date of the award.
Submitting a Nomination
- Nominations may be made by supervisors on the Recommendation for Recognition Form (CD-326) – instructions for completing the form are available on the second page of the form
- The form must be signed by the nominating official, the rating official (if different from the nominating official), and an approving official with delegated authority for approving Time Off Awards
- Send an email with the subject line: "Time Off – Last Name of Recipient" to Awards@noaa.gov, with the CD-326 form attached
Page last edited: December 27, 2016
top