On September 14, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memorandum titled, “Emergency Leave Transfer for Federal Employees Adversely Affected by Hurricane Idalia 2023.” The severe weather event directly impacted Americans in Florida and South Carolina beginning on August 27, 2023, and you can access the full memo here.

“In the event of a major disaster or emergency as declared by the President that results in severe adverse effects for a substantial number of federal employees, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), may establish an emergency leave transfer program (ELTP),” wrote OPM Director Kiran Ahuja. “After coordinating with federal agencies to assess the impact on employees in the declared disaster areas, OPM, in consultation with OMB, has determined that an ELTP program is warranted for Hurricane Idalia 2023.”

The memo outlines affected counties in both Florida and South Carolina and formally authorizes agency and department heads to:

(1) Determine which employees are affected and whether, and how much, donated annual leave they need;

(2) Determine the period of time for which donated annual leave may be accepted for distribution to approved leave recipients;

(3) As appropriate, approve leave donors and/or leave recipients in their agencies;

(4) Facilitate the distribution of donated annual leave from approved leave donors or (with the concurrence of an agency leave bank board) from an agency leave bank to approved leave recipients within their agencies; and,

(5) Educate adversely affected employees that, dependent on agency policy, they may request advanced annual or sick leave, as appropriate (even if they have available annual and sick leave) or leave without pay, so that they are not forced to use accrued leave before donated annual leave becomes available.

This is necessary since donated annual leave may not be retroactively substituted for accrued annual or sick leave used because of the disaster or emergency; it may only be substituted retroactively for any period of leave without pay or advanced annual or sick leave used because of the disaster or emergency.

The memo also includes links for guidance on Emergency Leave Transfer Program regulations, 5 CFR Part 630, Subpart K; an Emergency Leave Transfer Program Fact Sheet; Guidance on Multiple Emergency Leave Transfer Programs, CPM 2017-16, November 2, 2017; and, The Supplementary Information to the final 2008 Emergency Leave Transfer Program Regulations.

We hope you find these links useful.

Posted online at: https://chcoc.gov/content/emer...