United States Department of the Interior FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE  Washington, D.C. 20240

The purpose of this bulletin is to remind all employees that it is the mutual responsibility of supervisors and employees to plan and schedule the use of annual leave to avoid forfeiture.  A summary of the requirements and procedures governing the scheduling and restoration of annual leave follows:

1.  Scheduling Annual Leave.  Employees who were unable to schedule and use their leave during the month of January 2000, because of Y2K conversion efforts are deemed to have scheduled their leave in advance and therefore eligible to have their leave restored. (See 2(e) below for more information on leave restoration because of Y2K efforts.)  Other employees who have annual leave subject to forfeiture, are required to request in writing the scheduling of that annual leave at least three pay periods prior to the end of the leave year.  The current leave year ends on January 13, 2001, and the deadline for approved requests for the use of annual leave subject to forfeiture is November 18, 2000.  Requests to schedule the leave may be in the form of a memorandum or, preferably, an SF-71, Application for Leave.

2.  Conditions for Restoration.  An employee may have annual leave restored only under one of the following conditions:

 a.  An administrative error caused the loss of annual leave;

 b.  An unjustified or unwarranted personnel action caused the loss of annual leave;

   c. Sickness of the employee when the annual leave was scheduled and approved in writing and the period of absence due to the sickness occurred too late in the leave year or was of such duration that the annual leave could not be rescheduled for use before the end of the leave year.  (An employee on   extended sick leave late in the year should contact his/her supervisor to discuss annual leave plans for   leave subject to forfeiture.); or

  d.  An exigency of the public service occurred, and the annual leave was requested in writing by the employee and approved at least three pay periods before the end of the leave year.  Only a bona fide  operational emergency of such magnitude or significance that the public business cannot be effectively  conducted or accomplished will support the cancellation of an employee’s annual leave.  Mere   inconvenience from the absence of an employee during a peak workload period does not meet the  standard of public exigency.  In accordance with current Service policy, such exigencies of the public  business that may require the cancellation of an employee’s leave must be approved by the   Director/Deputy Director before the scheduled leave is canceled.

 e.  The employee was unable to schedule and use their leave as a result of Y2K computer conversion  efforts during the month of January.  Under these conditions, leave is considered to have been scheduled  in advance and therefore eligible for restoration.  Year 2000 computer conversion efforts are considered  to be an exigency of the public business for the purpose of restoring annual leave.  This exigency   terminated on January 31, 2000.  Annual leave that is restored under this provision, must be scheduled  and used not later than the end of leave year 2002.

3.  Rescheduling Canceled Leave.  Both supervisors and employees should note that approval of an exigency requiring cancellation of scheduled annual leave does not absolve them of the need to reschedule the leave for use before the end of the leave year, if at all possible.  Requests for restoration of forfeited leave based on an approved exigency will not be approved if sufficient time was available to reschedule and use the canceled leave during the remainder of the leave year.

4.  Requesting Restoration of Forfeited Annual Leave.  Requests may be initiated after the end of the leave year by the employee or an appropriate supervisory official and forwarded to the servicing personnel office.  Requests should be forwarded on the required form (INT. 4727-78, Request for Restoration of Forfeited Annual Leave) in sufficient time for them to be processed by the servicing personnel office and received by the Division of Personnel no later than February 23, 2001.  To expedite processing, documentation should include copies of the leave request/approval document(s) for all periods of scheduled leave.

It is very important for employees to monitor their leave balances and schedule, no later than November 18, 2000, any annual leave subject to forfeiture this leave year.  Failure to do so will result in the forfeiture of that leave.  For more detailed information on this subject and a copy of the request form, you may contact your servicing personnel office.