2024 Use or Lose Leave Guidance

As the calendar year winds down, the Office of Human Resources reminds us to use accrued annual leave or risk losing it. Go ahead, take some time off–you deserve it!

Smithsonian employees are reminded that the current leave year will end January 11, 2025 (pay period 26). Employees who have “use or lose” annual leave should submit their leave request, and receive approval from their supervisor, no later than November 30, 2024 (the end of pay period 23) to ensure that the leave can be considered for restoration in the event leave has to be subsequently cancelled. The request for leave and approval by the supervisor should be completed in webTA.

Scheduling “Use or Lose” Leave

“Use or lose” annual leave is the amount of annual leave that exceeds the employee’s applicable annual leave ceiling. Most employees can carry over a maximum of 240 hours of annual leave into a new leave year. With the exception of employees subject to a higher carryover limitation, any accumulated annual leave in excess of 240 hours is forfeited if not used by the end of the leave year. This does not apply to employees whose annual leave balance is less than 240 hours by the end of pay period 26.

Employees are encouraged to check their annual leave balance by reviewing their leave and earnings statement, accessing their webTA account, or by requesting assistance from their timekeeper. Leave and earnings statements and webTA accounts show employee leave balances including projected “use or lose” annual leave balances.

Restoration of Annual Leave

Smithsonian may restore annual leave that was forfeited because of sickness of the employee, administrative error, or exigency of the public business that arise in connection with:

• A natural disaster or other public emergency.
• When a particular program encounters sudden public attention or importance.
• When a specific project runs beyond its expected completion or is at some crucial phase at the end of the leave year.
• For an individual employee, an exigency may arise because of some unforeseen public business occurring toward the end of the leave year and preventing the planned use of the annual leave, e.g., a sudden call to jury duty, or a call to military duty to preserve public order.

The pressure of normal workloads, seasonal variations in work, or other situations in which careful scheduling is appropriate do not constitute an exigency of the public business. In the event that “use or lose” annual leave was approved by the November 30th deadline, and an employee’s leave is subsequently cancelled due to an exigency of the Smithsonian and cannot be rescheduled before the end of the leave year, the employee may coordinate with the supervisor to submit the authorization of restored leave form to request restoration of the lost “use or lose” annual leave to the  OF&A Service Now portal after the beginning of the new leave year (January 12, 2025). All requests for leave restoration should be submitted no later than the end of Pay Period 24 (December 14, 2024).

Employees may obtain information about how to request restoration of annual leave by contacting their respective unit administrative officer or human resources liaison or by reviewing Smithsonian Directives 212 and 213 (Personnel Handbooks), Chapter 630, Leave Administration (pages 15-19), available on PRISM:

Smithsonian Directive- Leave Administration Federal Employees

Smithsonian Directive- Leave Administration Trust Employees

Voluntary Leave Transfer Program

Employees may donate “use or lose” annual leave to individual leave recipients through the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) administered by the Office of Human Resources (OHR). Donor forms and the names of eligible leave recipients are available on OHR’s VLTP website.

Questions regarding “Use or Lose” leave may be directed to Unit Human Resource (HR) Liaisons.

Questions regarding the VLTP may be directed to Michelle Fay at FayM@si.edu or 202-633-6341.

For any general questions regarding Leave or any other information on this message please contact the OHR Policy Team at: OHR-Policy@si.edu.

Employees who work for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) should contact  hr@cfa.Harvard.edu.

For Smithsonian Enterprises (SE) employees, contact Jennifer Alexander at AlexanderJ@si.edu.

For employees at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), contact Yariela Vargas at vargasy@si.edu  or STRI OHR Help Desk stri-ohr-helpdesk@si.edu