Page Hero

Restoration of Forfeited Annual Leave

FSIS Notice 34-24
Issue Date Sep 06, 2024
Expiration Date Sep 01, 2025
Full Notice
FSIS Notice 34-24
  1. PURPOSE
    This notice provides instructions for employees and supervisors regarding their mutual responsibility to plan and schedule annual leave throughout the leave year. This notice also outlines the conditions under which forfeited annual leave may be restored, procedures to request a declaration of an exigency of the public business (e.g., operational emergency), procedures and required documents to request restoration of forfeited annual leave, and the timeframes for scheduling annual leave.
  2. SCHEDULING ANNUAL LEAVE
    1. Employees are responsible for requesting and using leave to avoid forfeiture at the end of the leave year. Employees are to regularly monitor the “Projected Use-or-Lose” block on Form AD-334, Statement of Earnings and Leave. Leave balances are available on the Employee Personal Page of the National Finance Center's website and in the timekeeping system. Most employees can carry over 240 hours of annual leave into the next leave year. Employees in overseas posts of duty can carry over 360 hours. Senior Executive Service (SES) and Senior Leader employees can carry over 720 hours.
    2. Employees (except SES) are to request annual leave before using compensatory time, travel compensatory time or credit hours when they have projected use-or-lose annual leave. When employees use these types of leave before use-or-lose annual leave and annual leave is forfeited, those hours are not eligible to be restored.
    3. Supervisors and employees are to ensure use-or-lose annual leave is scheduled and approved prior to the start of the third bi-weekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year (by November 30, 2024).
      1. This scheduling requirement is established in regulation (5 CFR 630.308) and cannot be waived under any circumstances.
      2. Leave that is scheduled and approved in accordance with the scheduling requirement establishes eligibility to request restoration if any annual leave is forfeited.
      3. If supervisors are unable to approve the leave for the date(s) requested, they and their employees are to make every effort to reschedule the leave for another time during the current leave year.
      4. Hours of leave that are forfeited as a result of employees voluntarily canceling their scheduled/approved annual leave are not eligible to be restored.
    4. Employees are to request annual leave using the timekeeping system.
    5. Employees who began the 2024 leave year at their annual leave ceiling (i.e., 240, 360, or 720 hours) would need to use all annual leave earned in the new leave year by the end of the leave year, January 11, 2025, to avoid forfeiture.
    6. Supervisors are to notify employees in a timely manner when approving or denying leave requests and provide a reason if leave requests are denied.
  3. MEETING CONDITIONS FOR RESTORATION
    1. Forfeited annual leave is eligible to be restored for any of the following reasons:
      1. Administrative error that caused the forfeiture of annual leave.

        NOTE: Math errors made by employees and timekeepers are not a basis to restore forfeited annual leave (e.g., employees in the 6-hour leave earning category who fail to account for the extra 4 hours of leave earned in the last full pay period of the calendar year).
      2. Unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that caused the forfeiture of annual leave.
      3. Illness of employees, occurring so late in the year, or of such duration that the annual leave approved by November 30, 2024, could not have been rescheduled for use before the end of the leave year. When sick leave extends during a period when annual leave was scheduled, and the annual leave is subsequently forfeited because of the use of sick leave, supervisors and employees are responsible for rescheduling the annual leave as described in subparagraph II.C.3. of this notice. Employees who are ill may elect to remain on scheduled annual leave instead of using sick leave. Forfeited annual leave can be restored because of illness when the request for restoration is supported by medical certification for the period of incapacitation.
      4. Exigency of the public business (see FSIS Directive 4630.2, Leave) when the annual leave was approved by appropriate officials in writing by November 30, 2024. Only a genuine operational emergency of such importance that FSIS cannot effectively conduct its public business will support canceling scheduled and approved annual leave. Heavy workload, such as a year-end report, is not a condition under which forfeited annual leave can be restored. A furlough because of a lack of funds or work (which results in the cancellation of scheduled leave) could constitute an exigency of the public business if employees made every effort to reschedule the use-or-lose annual leave and were prevented from actually taking the leave because there was insufficient time left in the leave year in which to take the leave (see 5 CFR 630.308).
    2. Supervisors and appropriate management officials are to take the following steps to document approval or denial of the exigency in writing prior to canceling scheduled and approved annual leave of their employees:
      1. Prepare an approval memo that includes the beginning and ending dates of the exigency, if applicable;
      2. Submit the approval memo to the appropriate higher-level management official for approval; and
      3. Notify employees after receiving the decision on the exigency that the approved annual leave has been canceled because of the operational emergency, and then take action to reschedule the leave for use during the current leave year, if it can be rescheduled.
    3. Supervisors and appropriate management officials are to:
      1. Document the approval or denial of the exigency in writing;
      2. Notify employees of the decision; and
      3. Maintain the paperwork documenting the exigency.
  4. REQUESTS FOR RESTORATION OF FORFEITED ANNUAL LEAVE
    1. Requests for restoration may be initiated by employees or their supervisors and submitted through supervisory channels to the Chief, Human Capital Planning and Accountability Branch (HCPAB), Human Resources Business Systems Division, Office of Human Resources, Office of Management via email to PremiumPayandLeave@usda.gov by the end of pay period 5, March 22, 2025.
    2. Restoration requests, as described in FSIS Directive 4630.2, Leave, are to include the following information:
      1. The employee's name, title, grade, organizational unit, and location.
      2. A leave audit covering the leave year in question that includes accurate hours of leave balances and leave forfeited. The timekeeper is to identify and take the necessary steps to correct all leave discrepancies before the leave audit is submitted to HCPAB.
      3. Details of the specific circumstances that caused the forfeiture of annual leave because of one or more of the following circumstances:
        1. Administrative error that caused the forfeiture of annual leave;
        2. Unjustified or unwarranted personnel action that caused the forfeiture of annual leave;
        3. Nature of employee's illness that resulted in cancelation of scheduled annual leave, including the medical certification, date the illness began, and the date the employee returned to duty; and
        4. Exigency that resulted in cancelation of the scheduled leave, including the beginning and ending dates.
      4. Copies of forms or documents used to schedule or reschedule forfeited annual leave (e.g., approved leave request, leave rosters or memorandums) are to include:
        1. The date the supervisor approved the leave;
        2. The specific dates of scheduled leave and the total number of hours;
        3. Copies of the employee's time and attendance records for the last pay period of the leave year for which leave was forfeited and the first pay period of the following leave year;
        4. The specific dates annual leave was canceled, and the total number of hours forfeited;
        5. An explanation of why annual leave could not be rescheduled and used during the leave year;
        6. An explanation of options other than cancelation of leave that were considered and rejected (e.g., reschedule leave, reassign work to other employees, and request extension of a project deadline);
        7. In cases where restoration is requested because of an exigency of public business, a copy of the paperwork documenting the exigency, and its approval by appropriate management officials. Documentation is to be approved at the time the exigency is known or expected, and before canceling the employee's leave; and
        8. The date the leave was rescheduled.
    3. The Chief, HCPAB, is authorized to approve or deny restoration requests. Form AD-582, Authorization for Restored Annual Leave, serves as notification to employees, timekeepers, and the Financial Services Center (FSC) on restored leave amounts and time limits for use.
  5. ADDITIONAL OPTION FOR USE-OR-LOSE ANNUAL LEAVE
    An option for employees who expect to forfeit use-or-lose annual leave could consider donating it to an approved leave recipient under the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) or donating to the Leave Bank Program (LBP). These leave sharing programs allow Federal employees to donate annual leave for use by other Federal employees who need it because of personal or family serious health conditions or medical emergencies. Under the VLTP and LBP, Federal employees can voluntarily donate unused, accrued, or restored annual leave to other Federal employees or the leave bank at any time during the leave year. For information and instructions for donating to the VLTP, contact the FSC at FSCGeneral@usda.gov with the subject “Donating Annual Leave.” A list of current approved VLTP recipients can be found on the OHR Portal (Current list of approved recipients). For information and instructions for donating to the LBP, contact the LBP Coordinator at FSISHR1@usda.gov with the subject “Leave Bank Donation.”
  6. QUESTIONS
    Refer questions regarding this notice to FSISHR1@usda.gov with the subject “Restoration of Forfeited Leave” or call 1-877-FSIS-HR1 (1-877-347-7471) and select option 4.