LEAVE TRANSFER

The Parties agree with the leave transfer program that provides for the voluntary transfer of unused accrued annual and sick leave from a leave donor for use by an approved leave recipient.

An employee may make a request to become a leave recipient electronically through the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program’s (VLTP) online site or by submitting a written application to the Agency to become a leave recipient. If an employee is not capable of making an application on his or her own behalf, a personal representative of the potential leave recipient may make a written application on the employee's behalf. Each application shall be accompanied by the following information concerning each potential leave recipient:

a. the name, position title, and grade or pay level of the potential leave recipient;

b. the reasons transferred leave is needed, including a brief description of the nature, severity, and anticipated duration of the medical emergency and, if it is a recurring one, the approximate frequency of the medical emergency affecting the potential leave recipient;

c. certification from one (1) or more physicians, or other appropriate experts, with respect to the medical emergency, if the potential leave recipient's employing agency so requires; and

d. any additional information that may be required by the potential leave recipient's employing agency.

Employees shall not be required to maintain any minimum leave balance in order to receive donations for qualifying conditions.

A leave recipient may use leave transferred to the leave recipient's accounts only for the purpose of a medical emergency for which the leave recipient was approved.

Leave transferred under this Article may be substituted retroactively for a period of leave without pay (LWOP) or used to liquidate an indebtedness for advanced annual or sick leave granted on or after a date fixed by the leave recipient's employing agency as the beginning of the period of medical emergency for which LWOP or advanced annual or sick leave was granted.

An employee may submit a voluntary written request to the Agency that a specific number of hours of the donor's accrued annual or sick leave be transferred from the donor's leave account to the leave account of a specified leave recipient.

Limitations on donation of annual leave are as follows:

a. In any one (1) leave year, a leave donor may donate no more than a total of one-half (1/2) of the amount of annual leave he/she would be entitled to accrue during the leave year in which the donation is made.

b. In the case of a leave donor who is projected to have annual leave that otherwise would be subject to forfeiture at the end of the leave year, the maximum amount of annual leave that may be donated during the leave year shall be the lesser of:

(1) one-half (1/2) of the amount of annual leave he/she would be entitled to accrue during the leave year in which the donation is made; or

(2) the numbers of hours remaining in the leave year (as of the date of transfer) for which the leave donor is scheduled to work and receive pay.

c. The Agency shall establish written criteria for waiving the limitations on donating annual leave under paragraphs (a) and (b) above. Any such waiver shall be documented in writing.

A leave donor may request that a specific number of hours be transferred from his/her sick leave account to the leave account of a leave recipient. There shall be no limitations placed on the number of sick leave hours donated by employees.

While a leave recipient is in a shared leave status, annual and sick leave shall accrue to the credit of the leave recipient at the same rate as if he/she were in a paid leave status except that:

a. the maximum amount of annual leave that may be accrued, in the set-aside account, by a leave recipient while in a shared leave status in connection with any particular medical emergency may not exceed forty (40) hours, or in the case of a part-time employee or an employee with an uncommon tour of duty, the average number of hours in the leave recipient's weekly scheduled tour of duty; and

b. the maximum amount of sick leave that may be accrued, in the set- aside account, by a leave recipient while in a shared leave status in connection with any particular medical emergency may not exceed forty (40) hours or, in the case of a part-time employee or an employee with an uncommon tour of duty, the average number of hours in the leave recipient's weekly scheduled tour of duty.

c. Annual and sick leave accruals will be pro-rated and distributed accordingly when an employee is working and using donated annual leave intermittently.

(1) Annual and sick leave earned while the employee is in a working status will be placed in the employee’s regular annual and sick leave accounts.

(2) Annual and sick leave earned while the employee is using donated leave will be placed in the employee’s set-aside account.

d. Any annual or sick leave accrued by a leave recipient under this Section shall be transferred to the appropriate

(1) as of the beginning of the first pay period beginning on or after the date on which the leave recipient's medical emergency terminates; or

(2) if the leave recipient's medical emergency has not yet terminated, once the leave recipient has exhausted all leave made available to him/her.

Restoration of unused transferred leave shall be in accordance with the Agency's existing rules.

DEFINITIONS:

Leave donor: An employee whose voluntary written request for transfer of annual or sick leave to the leave account of a leave recipient that is approved by the Agency. An employee may donate annual leave to an approved leave recipient in another federal agency.

Leave recipient: A current employee with a medical emergency for whom the Agency has approved an application to receive annual or sick leave from the leave accounts from one or more leave donors. Annual leave donations may be accepted from employees in federal agencies outside of the FAA.

Medical emergency: A medical condition of an employee or a family member of such employee that is likely to require an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and to result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the unavailability of paid leave. A medical emergency is likely to result in a substantial loss of income if:

a. a full-time employee’s absence from duty without available paid leave, because of the medical emergency, is or is expected to last at least twenty-four (24) work hours; or

b. a part-time employee’s absence from duty without available paid leave, because of the medical emergency, is or is expected to last at least thirty percent (30%) of the average number of hours in the employee’s scheduled biweekly tour of duty.

c. a period of absence without available paid leave for a medical emergency may be consecutive or intermittent.

Paid leave status: The administrative status of an employee while the employee is using annual or sick leave accrued or accumulated.

Shared leave status: The administrative status of an employee while the employee is using transferred leave.

Set-aside account: A separate leave account for annual and sick leave earned while using donated leave.