Annual Leave, General Information
Summary: Annual leave is provided to employees for rest, for recreation, and for
personal and emergency purposes. Annual leave is provided to employees for paid time off from regularly scheduled work hours. The chart below shows how much annual leave is accrued for full-time and part-time employees. Annual leave for full-time employees is credited at the beginning of the leave year, while annual leave for part-time employees is accrued in units of 20, 13, or 10 hours worked.
Postal employees can elect to receive annual leave in lieu of holiday leave pay when they work on holidays. The changes affect clerk, maintenance motor vehicle, postal police as well as employees in several bargaining units, including the Information Technology/Accounting Service Center and the Operating Services Division, both represented by the APWU Union, mail handlers and certain non-bargaining employees in the executive and administrative salary schedule (EAS) . Eligible employees that work their holiday, at their option, may elect to have their annual leave balance credited with up to eight hours of annual leave in lieu of holiday leave pay. The following 10 days are observed as holidays: New Year's Day; Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday; Washington's Birthday (Presidents' Day); Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Columbus Day; Veterans' Day; Thanksgiving; and Christmas.
4 hours for each full biweekly pay
period; i.e. 104 hours (13 days) per 26-period leave year.
6 hours for each full biweekly pay period plus 4 hours in last full pay period in calendar year; i.e. 160 hours (20 days) per 26-period leave year.
8 hours for each full biweekly pay period; i.e., 208 hours (26 days) per 26-period leave year
Maximum Leave Carryover
Bargaining Unit Employees: 440 hours (55 days)
From ELM Chapter 510 April 2004
512.63 Annual Leave Exchange
512.631 General
The annual leave exchange program provides eligible employees with the opportunity to receive cash in exchange for leave that they will earn during the next leave year. Accumulated leave and leave accrued during the current leave year cannot be exchanged under this program. The terms and conditions for exchanging leave vary for bargaining unit and nonbargaining unit employees and are explained in the instructions mailed to eligible employees before the open season November 15 through December 15 each year.
512.632 Bargaining Unit Annual Leave Exchange
Certain national collective bargaining agreements provide a leave exchange option for covered employees. Eligibility and the other terms and conditions for this option are set forth in the applicable collective bargaining agreements and information related to administering the program.
512.633 Nonbargaining Unit Annual Leave Exchange
Career employees permanently assigned to a nonbargaining unit position are provided the option at the end of the calendar year to exchange for cash a given number of hours of the annual leave they would otherwise earn during the next leave year. The minimum and maximum number of hours allowed each year, as well as the leave balance the employee must have at the end of the leave year in which the election is made, and any other requirements, are determined by consultation with Postal Service management associations and specified in information related to administering the program.
12.64 Annual Leave Sharing
The annual leave-sharing program provides employees the opportunity to receive and use donated annual leave and to donate their annual leave to another employee under certain conditions. The program is limited to career nonbargaining unit and bargaining unit employees and to noncareer employees designated as transitional employees (TEs) under certain collective bargaining agreements. The terms and conditions for this program are set forth in applicable collective bargaining unit agreements and memorandums of understanding. Instructions for administration of the terms and conditions are found in Management Instruction EL-510-1999-4, Annual Leave Sharing Program.
Employees are encouraged to exercise their voting rights. So far as is practicable without seriously interfering with service, postal employees, excluding casual and temporary employees, who desire to vote or register in any election or in any referendum on a civic matter in their community are excused for a reasonable time for that purpose on a day they are scheduled to work. Casual and temporary workers are encouraged to vote but are not eligible for administrative leave for this purpose.
Postal officials in charge of installations obtain necessary information concerning the hours during which the polls are open in the political subdivisions in which their employees reside. They then make an administrative determination regarding the amount of excused absence necessary (and limits in accordance with 519.323). Employees are notified of this determination and of the procedures to be followed in obtaining advance approval for the absence.
The following provisions concern time allowed for voting:
a. Three-Hour Rule. As a general rule, if the polls are not open at least 3 hours either before or after an employee's scheduled hours of work, the employees may be excused for the length of time that permits them to report for work 3 hours after the polls open or to leave work 3 hours before the polls close, whichever requires the lesser amount of time off.
b. Exception to Three-Hour Rule. Under exceptional circumstances, if the general rule in 519.323a does not permit sufficient time, an employee may be excused for the additional time needed to vote. However, time off must not exceed a full day.
c. Charge to Annual Leave or LWOP. If an employee's voting place is beyond normal commuting distance and if voting by absentee ballot is not permitted, employees may be granted sufficient time off to be able to make the trip to the voting place to cast their ballots. When more than 1 day is required to make the trip to the voting place, postal officials observe a liberal policy in granting necessary time off for this purpose. Time off in excess of 1 day is charged to annual leave or, if annual leave is exhausted or the employee so requests, it is charged to LWOP.
If the employee votes in a jurisdiction that requires registration in person, time off to register is granted on substantially the same basis as for voting, except that no time is granted if registration can be accomplished on a nonworkday and the place of registration is within a (reasonable) 1 day, round trip travel distance of the employee's place of residence.
An employee is not allowed administrative leave for voting or registration during a period of absence on sick leave, annual leave, or LWOP pay.