Federal Leave Programs: Understanding the various leave programs - PowerPoint Presentation

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Federal Leave Programs:

Understanding the various leave programs

20 September 2017

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Purpose

The purpose of this overview is to help ensure understanding of the various leave programs.

This overview will include a discussion on the following types of leave:

Annual

Sick

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

Leave Without Pay (LWOP)

Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL)

Administrative Leave

Disabled Veterans

Military

Court

This overview will also include a discussion on the following programs:

Voluntary Leave Transfer Program

Advanced Leave Program

This overview will also include a discussion on Adjustment of Work Schedules for Religious Observances.Slide3

Annual Leave

Leave Accrual Rates (

per pay period

):

Less than 3

yrs

of service = 4 hours

3 – 15

yrs

of service = 6 hours

15

yrs

or more = 8 hours

Annual leave is subject to prior approval.

Must be requested and approved prior to being taken.

Management can disapprove with justification.

Properly requested annual leave can only be denied for mission-related reasons.

Limitation on accrual: 240 carryover balance. Anything over 240 “use or lose”

“Use or lose”: Restoration of annual leave in excess of the maximum ceiling limited to administrative error, exigency of the public business or sickness of the employee.

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An employee is entitled to use sick leave when he/she:Receives medical, dental, or optical examination or treatment;

Is incapacitated for the performance of duties by physical or mental illness, injury, pregnancy, or childbirth;

Would jeopardize the health of others by his or her presence on the job because of exposure to communicable disease.

Family care or bereavement

Care of a family member with a serious health condition

Adoption-related purposes

There is no limitation on the amount of accrued sick leave that an employee can accrue.

Must be requested and approved by the leave granting official.Requests should be made as soon as possible, but in any event no later than two (2) hours after the beginning of the employee’s shift, circumstances permitting.

Sick LeaveSlide5

Sick Leave, continued

Prearranged medical, dental, or optical appointments will be made at least 24 hours in advance, unless emergency arises

.

Unless other arrangements have been made, sick leave request must be made on each day of absence

.

Supporting Evidence for use of sick leave:

If sick leave is less than three (3) days: Not required unless supervisor has reason to believe the employee is abusing sick leave privilege.

If sick leave is in excess of three (3) days: Employee must provide

administratively acceptable evidence

or medical certification within 15 days of the Employer’s request.

Administratively acceptable evidence:

Employee’s prognosis, dates of incapacitation, restrictions on performance of duties and expected return to duty date.

Sick Leave Usage Limits per Leave Year

No limitation for an employee’s own personal medical needs

Up to 13 days (104 hours) for general family care and bereavement

Up to 12 weeks (480 hours) of sick leave for serious health condition of self or to care for a family member with a serious health conditionSlide6

Sick leave to care for a family member

Up to 104 hours (13 days) of sick leave each leave year can be used for:

Care of a family member (illness, injury, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical/dental/optical appointments); or

Attend the funeral of a family member (bereavement)

*Please note: If employee uses any portion of the 13 days for general family care or bereavement in a leave year, that amount must be subtracted from 12 week entitlement.

Definition of family member:

Spouse, and parents thereof; children, including adopted children and spouses thereof; parents; brothers and sisters and spouses thereof; domestic partner, committed relationships, or any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with employee is equivalent of family relationship.Slide7

Sick leave for serious health condition

Up to 12 administrative workweeks during any 12-month period for:

The birth of a child of the employee and care of such child;

The placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care;

The care of

spouse

,

child or parent

of the employee who has a serious health condition;

A serious health condition of the employee that makes employee unable to perform essential functions of his/her position.

Under certain conditions, an employee may use the 12 weeks of leave intermittently.

Employee may elect to substitute annual and/or sick leave for unpaid leave.

Must provide notice of intent to take family and medical leave not less than 30 days before leave is to begin, or, in emergencies, as soon as practicable.

Medical certification may be requested to support request to care for employee’s spouse, child or parent with serious health condition or for serious health condition of employee.

“

Serious health condition

” is an illness, injury, impairment, or physician or mental condition that involves inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility or continuing treatment by health care provider.Slide8

Leave Without Pay (LWOP)

Although unpaid, LWOP is an

approved

leave status.

Not an employee entitlement.

Circumstances for granting LWOP include but are not limited to:

Fulfill family responsibilities

Increase job ability

Protect/improve employee health.

Employee’s do not accrue bi-weekly annual/sick leave when accumulate increments of 80 hours of LWOP.

Excessive LWOP can adversely impact service computation date towards retirement.

Timekeeping Code: KASlide9

Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL)

Employee has not been authorized or approved leave

Leave request was denied

Charged in 15 minute increments

May be basis for further disciplinary action

Charged only during regular tour of duty

Timekeeping Code: KCSlide10

Administrative Leave

Also referred to as “excused absence”

Administratively authorized absence from duty without loss of pay or charge to leave.

Limited to those situations not specifically prohibited by law and satisfies one or more of the following:

Absence is directly related to department or Agency mission;

Absence is officially sponsored or sanctioned by the head of the department or Agency;

Absence will clearly enhance the professional development or skills of the employee in his/her current position; or

Absence is as brief as possible under the circumstances and determined to be in Agency’s interest.

Examples include “59 minute rule”, blood donation, severe weather.

Timekeeping Code: LNSlide11

Disabled Veteran Leave

Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act of 2015

Employee hired on or after November 5, 2016, who is a veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 30 percent or more from VA is entitled to up to 104 hours of disabled veteran leave for purposes of

undergoing medical treatment for such disability

.

One-time benefit allowing a single, continuous 12-month period, beginning on the “first day of employment” is which to use the leave or it will be forfeited with no opportunity to carry over.

Employee must:

Be in the civil service

Be covered by the disabled veteran leave statute

Be a veteran as the term is defined in 38 USC 101(2)

Have a service-connected disability rating of 30 percent or more

Be hired on or after November 5, 2016; and

Be subject to a leave system for which leave is charged.

12-month eligibility period: “First day of employment” is the later of:

The date the employee is hired; or

The effective date of the employee’s qualifying service-connected disability rating.

Specific timekeeping code “PW” in

Ehz

fieldSlide12

Military Leave

Eligible: Any full-time federal civilian employee whose appointment is not limited to one (1) year. Part-time employees will have leave entitlement pro-rated.

Provides 15 days per fiscal year for active duty, active duty training, and inactive duty training. An employee can carry over a maximum of 15 days into next fiscal year.

Consists of regularly scheduled unit training periods, additional training periods, and equivalent training (

DoDI

1215.6, March 14, 1997).

Minimum charge to leave is one (1) hour. Employee may be charged military leave only for hours that he/she would otherwise have worked and received pay.

Timekeeping code: LMSlide13

Court Leave

Entitled to paid time off without charge to leave for service as a juror or witness.

Employee responsible for informing his/her supervisor of summons for service for 1 day or more or for a substantial part of a day.

Jury duty

: An employee who is summoned to serve as a juror in a judicial proceeding.

Witness

: An employee who is summoned as a witness in a judicial proceeding in which the Federal, State, or local government is a party.

Official Duty

: An employee who is summoned as a witness in an official capacity on behalf of the Federal Government is on official duty, not court leave.

Fees/Expenses: Employee must reimburse to their Agency, fees paid for service as a juror or witness. However, monies paid to jurors or witnesses which are in the nature of “expenses” (e.g., transportation) do not have to be reimbursed.

Timekeeping Code: LCSlide14

Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP)

Employees may donate annual leave directly to another employee who has a personal or family medical emergency and who has exhausted available paid leave.

To be eligible for consideration for enrollment:

Submit Application to Become a Leave Recipient which includes certification regarding the

medical emergency

from one or more physicians to HRO through supervisor.

Medical emergency

is

a medical condition of employee or employee’s family member that is likely to require the employee to be absent from duty for a prolonged period and will result in a substantial lose of income because of the lack of available paid leave.

Absence from duty without available paid leave because of medical emergency is (or is expected to be) at least 24 work hours.

Leave recipient may only use donated annual leave for purposes related to the medical emergency for which the leave recipient was approved.

Annual leave transferred under VLTP may be substituted retroactively for any period of LWOP because of the medical emergency or used to liquidate indebtedness incurred for advanced annual or sick leave used because of medical emergency.Slide15

Advanced Leave

Advanced Annual Leave:

Annual leave may be advanced to an employee in the amount not to exceed the amount the employee would accrue within the leave year.

Advanced annual leave is liquidated by subsequently earned annual leave or by payment upon separation from Federal service.

Advanced Sick Leave:

Sick leave may be advanced to an employee for the same reason it grants sick leave.

240 hours is the maximum amount of advanced sick leave a full-time employee may request.

Request for advanced sick leave is essentially a request for sick leave, therefore, the medical documentation requirements for granting sick leave apply.

Managers should NOT advance annual or sick leave to an employee when it is known (or reasonably expected) that the employee will not return to duty.

All advanced leave requests must route through HRO for final approval prior to submission to timekeeping.

Timekeeping Codes: LB (Advanced Annual Leave)

LG (Advanced Sick Leave)

* Visit

http://

my.nps.edu/web/hro/absence-leave

for Request for Advance Leave form which outlines routing/approval process.Slide16

Adjustment of Work Schedules for Religious Observances

Employees whose personal religious beliefs require that he/she abstain from work at certain time of the work day/week, must be permitted to work alternative work hours.

Submit written request for adjusted work schedule (which must state for religious purposes) and articulate need to abstain from work.

Supervisor and employee should determine whether hours will be scheduled before or after the religious observance. Approval should not be granted until a schedule is agreed upon as to when employee will work to make up the time.

Employee should only be allowed to accumulate the number of hours of work needed to make up for absences from work for religious observances.

Overtime pay provisions of Title 5 do not apply to employees who work different hours or days because of religious observances.

Timekeeping Codes: CR: Religious Comp Time Earned

CA: Religious Comp Time TakenSlide17

Resources/Points of Contact

Human Resource Office Intranet Site:

http://my.nps.edu/web/hro/

Office of Personnel Management:

http://opm.gov/

For any questions regarding leave programs, please contact

Kenneth StewartLabor/Employee Relations Specialistkastewar@nps.edu

Extension 2007

Cindy Dunn

Labor/Employee Relations Specialist

cdunn@nps.edu

Extension 2244

or

Jennifer

Amorin

Chief, Labor/Employee Relations

jlamorin@nps.edu

Extension 3308Slide18

Qu

estions?