DRAFT VERSION 6OPS-35
November, 21, 2017
II.PURPOSE
A.This purpose of this policy is to supplement Smithsonian Directives (SD) 212 and 213 (Trust), chapter 630 “Federal Personnel Handbook” ( This policy describes procedures and responsibilities specific to OPS for requesting and approving leave.
III.POLICY
A.It is the policy of OPS to encourage the use of leave to cover absence for rest, recreation, medical needs, participation in civic or military activities, religious observances and emergency purposes. When possible, employees’ requests for leave will be granted. However, supervisors will ensure that an adequate work force will be present should the requested leave be granted. The interests of both management and employees shall be considered in administering leave regulations.
B.Abuses of leave privileges are not to be tolerated and suspected abuses will be investigated promptly. Disciplinary actions up to and including removal may be taken. Periodic review and analysis of leave records may be made by OPS management officials.
C.Emergencies may result in the cancelation of previously approved leave.
D.Requesting leave does not in itself guarantee approval of the leave request.
IV.DEFINITIONS
A.Extended Leave: Extended leave is paid, approved absence for purposes such as vacations, personal needs, illness, or emergencies. This refers to any period of annual leave of 40 hours or more. This may include a combination of compensatory, sick, annual, or holiday leave.
B.Quick Leave: Quick leave is paid, approved absence for purposes such as vacations, personal needs, illness, or emergencies. This refers to any period of annual and compensatory leave of less than 40 hours.
C.Emergency Leave: A documented emergency which prevents an employee from reporting to work as scheduled.
D.Leave without Pay: Leave without pay (LWOP) is approved unpaid leave. An employee may request LWOP when the employee’s annual or sick leave is exhausted or he/she prefers not to use the paid leave.
E.Acceptable Medical Documentation: Acceptable medical documentation is written verification by the employee’s medical professional of the employee’s inability to work on the day in question. At a minimum the written verification should include:
1.Dates of treatment.
2.Name address, phone number, and signature of the medical professional providing documentation.
3.Any information about prescribed changes in duties, hours, or other working conditions.
F.FMLA: FMLA is a labor law requiring employers to provide employees unpaid leave for serious health conditions, to care for a sick family member, or to care for a newborn or adopted child.
G.Leave Restriction: Leave restriction is a status that results from leave abuse. Employees are notified and placed in this status, and are given specific leave-requesting procedures, which must be followed during this status.
H.Advanced Leave: Granting leave to an employee before it is earned to enable the employee to remain in a pay status during a period of serious illness, family emergency or other need.
I.Additional definitions related to leave administration are found in SD 212 and 213 (Trust) “Federal Personnel Handbook”, Chapter 630 “Leave Administration”.
V.RESPONSIBILITIES
A.All OPS employees are responsible for requesting preferred periods of annual and sick leave in a timely manner. Consideration will be given to employee requests for emergency and sick leave.
B.Security Managers or Division Chiefs and subordinate supervisors are responsible for approving or disapproving leave. Supervisors who are authorized to approve leave will ensure that an adequate work force will be present should requested leave be granted. Additionally, supervisors are responsible for monitoring leave requests to ensure an employee’s leave balance supports the leave request.
VI.PROCEDURES
The below procedures are specific to OPS. For additional procedures related to leave administration, refer to SD 212 “Federal Personnel Handbook”, Chapter 630 “Leave Administration”. Questions regarding absence and leave procedures may also be referred to the employee’s supervisory chain of Command, the OPS Human Resources liaison, or the SI Office of Human Resources.
A.FMLA
1.Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), most employees are entitled to a total of up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period. FMLA leave may be used consecutively, orunder certain conditions, can be used intermittently. FMLA can be used for the following purposes:
a)The serious health condition of an employee that results in the inability to perform the essential duties of his or her position.
b)The birth of a son or daughter and the care of the newborn, or care for a newly placed son or daughter.
c)The placement of a child with an employee for adoption or foster care purposes.
d)The care of an employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition.
2.Employees are responsible for invoking their entitlement to FMLA leave, using Form WH-380-Eand may choose whether to substitute paid leave, as appropriate, for leave without pay under FMLA.
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B.Scheduling Extended Leave
1.Extended leave must be scheduled, requested and approved by the employee’s supervisor in advance of the leave. The procedures for the employee and supervisor are as follows:
a)The employee shall submit a leave request through webTA at least 30 days but no more than 6 months prior to the date the leave is scheduled to begin.
b)The supervisor shall advise an employee of the status of his/her leave request within 7 days of the submission. If, at the time, the requested leave cannot be approved, the request shall remain for consideration unless withdrawn by the employee. An employee shall be advised of that pending leave request at least 2 weeks before the leave is scheduled to begin.
c)Emergencies may exempt the employees from this requirement of requesting leave in advance; however, employees must follow emergency annual leave procedures described in section VI paragraph E. Requesting extended leave does not in itself guarantee approval of the leave request.
C.Scheduling Quick Leave
1.Quick leave must be requested, scheduled, and approved by the employee’s supervisor in advance of the leave. The procedures for the employee and supervisor are as follows:
a)The employee should submit a leave request through WebTA at least 72 hours prior to the start of the leave.
b)Any leave request for at least 8 hours and less than 40 hours shall have its status decided and the employee advised 48 hours prior to that leave taking effect, provided the employee submitted the request at least 72 hours in advance.
c)Emergencies may exempt the employee from this requirement of requesting leave in advance; however, employees must follow emergency annual leave procedures described insection VI paragraph E. Requesting quick leave does not in itself guarantee approval of the leave request.
D.Emergency Leave
1.In the event of an emergency, the employee may not be able to request leave in advance in writing. The request for leave must be made by the employee to the supervisor over the phone at least one hour before the scheduled start of the employee’s workday for which the leave is requested. If the supervisor cannot be reached, the employee must speak with the watch commander.
2.Operations staff (security officers, supervisors and managers) must call the Control Room Operator to speak to a supervisor. Headquarters and administrative staff must call their first line supervisor or watch commander to inform their supervisor.
3.The request must state in detail the nature of the emergency and how long the employee expects to be away from work. In cases where the employee is unable to arrive at work on time because an emergency occurs on the way to work, (e.g., involvement in a car accident), employees will notify their supervisors as quickly as possible and give an approximate time of arrival.If the supervisor cannot be reached, the employee must speak with the watch commander.
4.Supervisors shall require documentation substantiating the emergency if the employee is on leave restriction; if the supervisor has specific reason to believe that the employee has given false reasons for requesting the leave; or, if the reason for the leave is exposure to a contagious disease or to care for a family member with a contagious disease.
E.Scheduling and Granting Sick Leave
1.Sick leave for medical appointments will be requested by the employee to the immediate supervisor in writing as soon as possible, but not less than one working day prior to the start of leave.
2.Supervisors decide whether to approve the leave based on consideration of the employee’s need and leave balance, the work needs of the organization, and whether the employee complied with leave procedures.
1.An original administratively acceptable documentation to support leave must be submitted by employees who are absent from work on sick leave for more than three consecutive work days, and by all employees who are on leave restriction, regardless of the duration of the absence.
2.If the supervisor doubts the validity of the documentation presented to support a request for sick leave, the supervisor should consult with Labor and Employee Relations (LER) liaison, and Occupational Health Services (OHS) for assistance. Supervisors will not contact an employee’s physician directly for medical information.
3.Approved sick leave may be converted to AWOL if appropriate documentation cannot be verified, or converted to LWOP if appropriate leave balance is insufficient.
F.Leave Restriction
1.When a decision is made that an employee has abused leave, the supervisor will inform the employee in writing of the decision to place him or her on leaverestriction. The notice of restriction will contain the following information:
a)A brief summary of how the employee has abused his or her leave, including an analysis of the employee’s leave record for the past 3 to 6 months.
2. After a leave restriction is issued, the employee and supervisors will adhere to the following procedures:
a)Any sick leave request must be accompanied by a doctor’s note or practitioner’s certification that the employee received his or her professional attention during the period of absence and that the employee was incapacitated.
b) Failure to follow the outlined procedures for taking sick leave will result in the employee being charged AWOL, which can become grounds for disciplinary action up to and including removal.
G.Advanced Leave
1.Advanced leave is a privilege that may be extended, however employees have no entitlement to advanced leave.
2.Advanced leave will not be approved when it is likely the employee will retire, be separated, or resign before earning the leave to repay the advance; or when there are reasons to expect the employee may not repay the advance.
3.An employee who is separated while indebted for advanced leave may be asked to refund the amount due or have the amount owed deducted from any monies due to the employee.
4.To request advanced leave, an employee must submit:
a)A written memo with an explanation of the reasons for the advanced leave, and the amount requested.
b)A doctor’s certificate verifying the employee’s or family member’s illness, incapacitation, and the estimated date of recovery for work, or information related to adoption of a child.[GD1]
5.Approval for Advanced Leave:[GD2]
a)If an employee requests advanced sick or annual leave for less than 8 hours, recommendations for approval or denial will be submitted by the District Manager or Division Chief for final approval by the respective Deputy Director, OPS.
b)If an employee requests advanced sick or annual leave for 8 hours or more, recommendations for approval or denial will be sent to the respective OPS Deputy Director through the District Manager or Division Chief for final approval by the Director, OPS.
c)Conditional on approval, a full-time employee may be granted up to 240 hours of advanced sick leave for a year. C
d)Conditional on approval, annual leave may be advanced to an employee in an amount not to exceed the amount the employee would accrue within the leave year.
6.Sick Leave
a.A request for advanced sick leave is essentially a request for sick leave, therefore, the medical documentation requirements described in Section VII for granting of sick leave apply.
7.Annual Leave
a.Conditional on approval, annual leave may be advanced to an employee in an amount not to exceed the amount the employee would accrue within the leave year.
H.Leave Without Pay
1.Requests for LWOP must be forwarded through the Security Manager or Division Chief to their Deputy Director (Deputy Director, Operations or Deputy Director, Physical Security & Business Operations) for approval, up to 40hours. LWOP requests in excess of 40 hours must be approved by the Director, OPS.
2.Leave without pay may affect an employee’s benefits and service credit. Employees are solely responsible for contacting the Servicing Human Resources Specialist to discuss benefit implications.[GD3]
VII.SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
A.Definitions and procedures for the following leave categories are found in Smithsonian Directives (SD) 212 and 213 (Trust), chapter 630 “Federal Personnel Handbook” (
1.Absence Without Leave
- Annual Leave
- Court Leave
- Excused Absence
- Exigency
- Military Leave
[GD1]Taken from SD
[GD2]SD States approva must comel from the director or his or her designee (required if requesting 40 hours or more of advance leave)
[GD3]SD States: A unit determines the supervisory level at which requests for discretionary LWOP will be decided. The employee’s immediate supervisor considers and recommends approval or disapproval of the request, but discretionary LWOP requests in excess of 40 hours should be discussed with the unit director or designee.