How much annual leave do you like to have in the bank?

[Anonymous]

I’m a fed and normally carry over the 240. The reason originally was that we didn’t have short term disability or maternity and that was how you saved for emergencies. I still like 240 in case of cancer or some major issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a fed and normally carry over the 240. The reason originally was that we didn’t have short term disability or maternity and that was how you saved for emergencies. I still like 240 in case of cancer or some major issue.

I thought in case of a major medical issue we could use all that sick leave that can build up way past 240 and carry over indefinitely.

I’m a healthy person who likes to travel though so not sure it’s unusual to have so much sick leave banked.

Definitely want to know whether that sick leave couldn’t be used to the max for cancer or something, else I am going to start taking a lot more mental health days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people keep the carryover max? When do you plan to use it? I'm FINALLY hitting 240 the first pay period of 2022, after many years of taking just a week in the summer, the day after Thanksgiving, and a week at Christmas off all year. Should I try to keep it near the cap? Why? If I ever leave the feds, that's a lot of time I'll never get back.

No, you should use and enjoy your leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people keep the carryover max? When do you plan to use it? I'm FINALLY hitting 240 the first pay period of 2022, after many years of taking just a week in the summer, the day after Thanksgiving, and a week at Christmas off all year. Should I try to keep it near the cap? Why? If I ever leave the feds, that's a lot of time I'll never get back.

No, you should use and enjoy your leave.

Do you have difficulty getting approval for the leave you want to take?

[Anonymous]

I only accrue a day a month so I’m grateful I was able to bank 14 days while I had a WFH option and we weren’t taking any vacation. I’ve been back in the office for a few months now and am glad to have those days available for a European trip I have planned without having to sacrifice the flexibility of a few days here and there to visit family stateside.

[Anonymous]

I have 6 weeks of annual leave at the end of each calendar year, which is the max I can carry over as a fed. I also have 4 weeks of sick leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people keep the carryover max? When do you plan to use it? I'm FINALLY hitting 240 the first pay period of 2022, after many years of taking just a week in the summer, the day after Thanksgiving, and a week at Christmas off all year. Should I try to keep it near the cap? Why? If I ever leave the feds, that's a lot of time I'll never get back.

You get paid annual leave if you were to leave feds. It’s the sick leave that you can’t get back unless you return to the gov.

Right - you can't get the time back. Which is worth more to me right now, so trying to understand value of banking the max.

[Anonymous]

If I could ever actually accrue anything without having to use it, Id love to have 2 weeks buffer.
As it stands, I accrue 3-ish hours sick leave and 4.5 hours vacation per paycheck for 10 days sick and 15 days vacation per year. Daycare/Preschool is closed 21 days from September to June plus the summer session has 2 days closed and 5-7 days closed between summer and school year= 28-30 days closed per year including holidays but I only have 10 holidays paid so still making up 18-20 days. Add in Covid testing, doctors appointments, illness (both personal and kid) and it is never-ending. This past 12-18 months has been even worse for my leave accrual than the first year of my son in daycare. I am supposed to have surgery in January and hope that I can scrape together 2 days if I have to have it mid-week. Otherwise, hoping I can get surgery on a Friday.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the private sector. We can only carry over 80 hours at the end of each calendar year, so my answer is close to 80 if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to hoard it and now I spend it regularly and keep about 7 days in the bank. It’s part of your overall compensation. If you wait until you quit and take a payout, think of all the time you spent working instead of living.

Or you could get the weeks of leave (supervisors can carry over up to 360 instead of 240) when you retire.

[Anonymous]

We have a hard use or lose policy for PTO, so everyone starts January with zero in the bank. I try to keep 2 or 3 days until Thanksgiving or so.

[Anonymous]

Related question about fed leave - will be a new fed. Are you not allowed to use any leave until you accrue it? So if you started on January 1, you wouldn't be able to take a week off (for example) until you've accrued 40 hours after 10 pay periods (using 4 hours per pay period), so not until June? Is that how it works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related question about fed leave - will be a new fed. Are you not allowed to use any leave until you accrue it? So if you started on January 1, you wouldn't be able to take a week off (for example) until you've accrued 40 hours after 10 pay periods (using 4 hours per pay period), so not until June? Is that how it works?

Depends on the agency.

I'm at a financial regulator and they give us all our leave for the year on January 1. Of course, if you quit your job early and use up too much leave before it's accrued, the agency will dock it from your final paychecks.

I carry over the max allowed hours - 360 hours, plus I'm paid out for 40 hours per year. Ya never know when you or a love one will the leave due to a medical crisis.

And I still get plenty of time off despite my large rollover. WFH makes it even easier to take a trip, work for some days while at my destination, then take a few days off. The holidays are now a breeze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related question about fed leave - will be a new fed. Are you not allowed to use any leave until you accrue it? So if you started on January 1, you wouldn't be able to take a week off (for example) until you've accrued 40 hours after 10 pay periods (using 4 hours per pay period), so not until June? Is that how it works?

Technically you are correct. You may be able to acrue some compensatory time to help take a week off sooner or combine it with a fed holiday. You might be able to get advanced leave as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Related question about fed leave - will be a new fed. Are you not allowed to use any leave until you accrue it? So if you started on January 1, you wouldn't be able to take a week off (for example) until you've accrued 40 hours after 10 pay periods (using 4 hours per pay period), so not until June? Is that how it works?

Technically you are correct. You may be able to acrue some compensatory time to help take a week off sooner or combine it with a fed holiday. You might be able to get advanced leave as well.

I have been able to use leave without pay (LWOP), but this was in a situation where I was working seasonally, I'm not sure how that request would go over in a salaried context.