VA Central Office October 14, 2021
Washington, DC
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICER (OCHCO) BULLETIN
SUBJECT: Restoration of Annual Leave Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
This OCHCO Bulletin is a reminder to Human Resources (HR) Offices of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) memorandum and regulations regarding the rules simplifying the process to restore annual leave to employees performing essential services in response to the COVID-19 national emergency.
The Regulations provide two provisions related to the forfeiture of annual leave:
Provision 1: Employees who are unable to schedule and use their annual leave because their services are determined to be essential for VA’s response to the COVID-19 national emergency will be deemed to have scheduled leave in advance and eligible for restoration for hours in excess of the employees’ maximum carryover limit.
Provision 2: Employees who are also unable to use their current active restored annual leave because their services are determined to be essential for VA’s response to the COVID-19 national emergency will be provided a new time limit to use active restored annual leave.
To be eligible under the above provisions, employees must be designated* as performing essential work in response to the COVID-19 national emergency, resulting in being prevented from scheduling and using their annual leave. An employee (or group of employees) whose services are determined to be essential in response to the COVID-19 national emergency is (are) identified as providing direct patient care or mission-critical support services during COVID-19 — as determined by the appropriate leave approving official. See Delegation of Authority to Determine Employees Necessary to Respond to the National Emergency Related to the COVID- 19 Pandemic and Response.
*NOTE: Employees must be notified, in writing, of this determination and given information on how the special rules affect their ability to have excess annual leave restored and the rules concerning use of any current active restored annual leave account.
Employees who are designated as providing essential services and who have excess leave restored to them (provision 1) and/or are unable to use current active restored annual leave (provision 2) will have the following timeframes to use the restored annual leave, as provided in the regulations (5 CFR § 630.310(d)(1) and (2)).
A full-time employee must schedule and use the restored annual leave by the end of the leave year in progress that is two years after the termination date fixed by the appropriate VA official based on OPM regulations to schedule and use the restored annual leave. Full-time employees with more than 416 hours of excess leave will have this time period extended by one leave year for each additional 208 hours of excess annual leave (or any portion thereof).
A part-time employee with restored annual leave equal to or less than 20 percent of the number of hours in the scheduled annual tour of duty will have until the end of the leave year in progress that is two years after the termination date fixed by the appropriate VA official on which to schedule and use the restored annual leave. This time period will be extended by one leave year for each additional number of excess leave hours (or any portion thereof) equal to 10 percent of the number of hours in the employee’s scheduled annual tour of duty.
Ex: A part-time employee works 40 hours per pay period and has a scheduled annual tour of duty of 1040 hours (40 x 26 pay periods). The employee will have until the end of the leave year that is two years after the termination date fixed by the appropriate VA official on which to schedule and use up to 208 hours of restored leave (.2 x 1040 hours). If the employee has more than 208 hours of excess leave, this time period will be extended by one leave year for each additional 104 hours (.1 x 1040 hours) (or any portion thereof).
Employees not covered by these provisions will continue to follow VA Handbook 5011, Part III, Chapter 2, paragraph 3j and Chapter 3, paragraph 6f to carry over excess annual leave. “Use or lose” annual leave must be scheduled, in writing, by November 20, 2021 (before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year). Restored annual leave must be used no later than the end of the leave year two years after the date of restoration.
Additional guidance is published on the OCHCO web site under the HR Emergency Resource Center.
Employees should contact their HR office with questions. HR offices with questions regarding this bulletin may contact to the Worklife and Benefits Service at: vaco058worklife@va.gov.
Issued by: VA/OCHCO/Worklife and Benefits Service