OPM Authorizes Emergency Leave Transfer Program for Federal Employees Impacted by Hurricane Dorian
On Friday, the Office of Personnel Management announced in a release that it had authorized the use of an emergency leave transfer program (ELTP) for federal employees impacted by Hurricane Dorian. The program allows employees to transfer their own leave time to employees who must take time to recover from the storm.
The authorization came at the request of four cabinet-level agencies: the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and Veteran’s Affairs Department, the news release reports.
Of the 200,000 federal employees living within Hurricane Dorian’s path, OPM reports only 3,163 employees have been directly impacted by the August storm.
“Issuing an ELTP is how OPM can support our colleagues that found themselves in harm’s way,” said Director Dale Cabaniss. “We will continue to monitor the situation of the agencies affected and issue guidance as necessary to help those caught by Hurricane Dorian’s devastation.”
According to the release, OPM consults with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish an ELTP in preparation for a major disaster or emergency declaration. President Trump declared a state of emergency for the areas in Hurricane Dorian’s path in August.
In a memo to agency heads, covered by Federal Times, OPM directed agency heads to approve leave donors and recipients and determine how long such donations will be accepted.
“Agencies are responsible for administering the ELTP for their own affected employees. Therefore, employees who wish to donate annual leave must contact their own agencies, not OPM, to determine if there are any affected employees in their agency and how to donate annual leave to them,” the OPM memo to agency heads on the ELTP establishment said.
“Agencies should contact OPM for assistance in receiving additional donated annual leave from other agencies only if they do not receive sufficient amounts of donated annual leave to meet the needs of emergency leave recipients within the agency.”
