Federal AviationAdministrationVoluntary Leave
Transfer Program
(VLTP)
Presented By: Anna Green,
Program Manager for
VLTP/ELTP:
Telework #: 703 441 3503
Office #: 202 267 3873
Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP)• Today’s Agenda
– Background and History of the VLTP
– Who is Eligible to Apply for the VLTP and Eligibility
Requirements
– VLTP Registration Process and Guidelines
– Issues Surrounding VLTP Use of Donated Leave
– Leave Donation Guidelines and Process
– Other Related VLTP Issues
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Federal AviationAdministration
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Reminder - Union Agreement
• The information, instructions, and
guidelines in this briefing are based on
FAA policy
• However, they can be supplemented or
superseded by an union agreement
– Therefore, review applicable union contracts,
MOU’s, and MOA’s pertaining to these topics
for bargaining-unit employees
– Consult your Labor and Employee Relations
Specialist (LER) if you have questions
Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP)
Background and
History of the VLTP
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP)• VLTP created by Congress in 1988
• FAA followed Title 5 Leave Policies until 1996, including
for the VLTP
– Exempted from Title 5 Leave Policies in April 1996
through Personnel Reform
• FAA modified VLTP rules in December 1999 to allow for
donation of sick leave
– Title 5 federal agencies only allow the donation and
receipt of annual leave; only the FAA allows for donation
& receipt of sick leave hours
• Latest VLTP policy issued in Sept 2010, with a few
changes, e.g., limited maximum donation of sick leave to
be 104 hours, limited time in the program to 1 year, etc.
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• The VLTP was established to help ease the
financial burden for employees who have a
personal medical emergency or need to care for a
family member with a medical emergency
• It was never intended to be a permanent status,
but a stop-gap measure until an employee can
return to work within a reasonable period of time,
or is approved for disability retirement
– The VLTP is is not intended to be a substitute for
disability retirement
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• If the employee’s medical
certification indicates that
he/she will not recover within a
year, get with your LER
specialist and the Benefits
Operations Center (BOC) to
advise the employee of the
option of applying for disability
retirement if eligible
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
Who is Eligible to Apply for the
VLTP and Eligibility
Requirements
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• Permanent and temporary FAA employees can register in
the VLTP, whether on a full-time or part-time work schedule
• Please note that the hour totals noted in this presentation
are for full-time employees
– However, if you have part-time employees, such hours are prorated
• See HRPM LWS-8.12 for specific calculation in the unlikely
event you have a part-time employee who is enrolled in the
VLTP
– e.g., If part-time, the employee must have at least 30% of
the number of hours he/she works in a pay period to be in
a LWOP status in order to be eligible for the VLTP, versus
24 hours of LWOP for a full-time employee
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• In order to register in the VLTP, an employee
must be experiencing a medical emergency
that causes him/her to suffer a substantial
loss of income from his/her FAA employment
– What is considered a substantial loss of income
due to a medical emergency?
– IAW HRPM LWS-8.12, it is a medical emergency
that is, has, OR will cause a full-time employee to
be without pay for at least 24 consecutive hours
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• In other words, the
medical emergency
must or will require the
employee to exhaust the
use of all of his/her
available paid leave and
still be absent for 24
consecutive work hours
or more on LWOP
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• What does available paid leave mean within the FAA?
– Means any annual or sick leave, as well as any comp time,
credit hours, or any other available paid leave if in the VLTP
for himself/herself
• However, if in the VLTP to care for a family member, it means any
annual leave, comp time, credit hours, or any other available paid
leave, and he/she has or will use the maximum amount of sick
leave available for family purposes
– For example, if an employee had 1000 hours of sick leave, he/she
would have to use 480 hours of that total to be in the VLTP, but not
the total 1000 if applying for the VLTP for a family member
– However, available paid leave does not include any advanced
annual or sick leave for both self and family purposes
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
• Medical emergency must be
supported by submission of
medical certification to
support the VLTP application
– A medical emergency does not
include elective cosmetic surgery,
routine tests, or the care of a
healthy newborn
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• However, each case has to be decided on
its own merit– If a cosmetic surgery is being done for medical reasons,
then the employee might be eligible to register in the
VLTP
• e.g., normally a person having a rhinoplasty would
not be eligible for the VLTP, however, if it was being
done due to a deviated septum/breathing issues,
then the employee might be eligible if the surgery
was not solely for aesthetic reasons
– While an employee can’t register in the VLTP to care for
a healthy child, if the child has a serious health
condition, then the employee could register
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
VLTP Registration Process and
Guidelines
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Employees must register within 30 calendar days of
the beginning of the medical emergency OR from the
date the employee is without available paid leave for
24 consecutive work hours or more
– Note that if granted retroactive approval into the VLTP,
no later than 30 days after return to work
• Such retroactive registration may be considered when the
employee or the employee’s representative presents medical
evidence from a health care provider showing that the employee
was medically unable to submit a leave recipient application
during the entire period of the medical emergency and was
qualified to be a leave recipient - see HRPM LWS-8.12,
paragraph 13
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
• Technically, employees are suppose to
submit leave request for the period of
absence due to the medical emergency
• They must also provide a medical
certificate within 15 calendar days of
the manager's request for such info,
unless it is not practical, but no later
than 30 days after the original request
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
• Why do we need a medical
certificate?
– Validate there is a medical emergency
• e.g., that it’s not elective cosmetic surgery,
it’s not bonding with a healthy child, etc.
– To determine how many hours of
donated leave the employee might
need
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program VLTP) – cont’d
• The medical certificate must include evidence from an
appropriate health care provider of
– Employee’s incapacity for duty due to physical or
mental illness or injury
• Or if for the care of a family member, the family member’s
incapacity for work or school
– The date of incapacity, and
– The anticipated ending date of the medical emergency
and return to duty or school, as applicable, so that we
can calculate/validate how many donated hours the
employee might need
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program VLTP) – cont’d
• A Family Member means an individual with any of
the following relationships to the employee
– (1) Spouse, and parents thereof;
– (2) Sons and daughters, and spouses thereof;
– (3) Parents, and spouses thereof;
– (4) Brothers and sisters, and spouses thereof;
– (5) Grandparents and grandchildren, and spouses thereof;
– (6) Domestic partner and parents thereof, including domestic
partners of any individual in numbers (2) through (5) of this
definition; and
– (7) Any individual related by blood or affinity whose close
association with the employee is the equivalent of a family
relationship as noted above
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Applications for the VLTP should be
accomplished online via the OVLTP system
• However, on occasions, employees may submit
paper copies to be completed by the VLTP
coordinator
– FAA form 3600-24 for Leave Recipient Application
• Employee’s manager is suppose to
approve/disapprove VLTP application within 14
calendar days
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP)
- An employee who has applied to OWCP but
has not yet been approved is eligible to
become a leave recipient in the VLTP if he/she
meets the program conditions
- However, if accepted as a leave recipient, the
employee may not use donated leave for the
same period of time OWCP is reimbursing the
employee
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Wounded Veteran
– A wounded veteran who sustains a combat-related
disability while serving as a member of the Armed
Forces and who is undergoing medical treatment for
that disability is eligible to participate in the VLTP
program without first having to exhaust his or her own
leave
– A wounded veteran who is accepted as a leave
recipient may receive donated annual and/or sick leave
for up to 5 years from the start of the treatment
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
• VLTP Registrants will see
donated leave on their LES,
or they may contact the VLTP
Coordinator and/or Payroll
for such info, or the
Coordinator can view their
donation amounts on the
OVLTP website
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Duration of Registration– Limited to one year (except for wounded vets as noted on
slide 23 or if 1 year extension granted as noted on slide 58 )
per medical emergency from the effective date of the leave
recipient’s enrollment in the VLTP (not the time that the
medical emergency began, because they may be two
different dates)
– However, if a different emergency occurs, the employee must
reapply to the VLTP for the second emergency
• Once either medical emergency is resolved, the front-line
manager terminates the employee’s participation from the VLTP
under that medical emergency and any unused donated leave
from the resolved emergency will be returned to the donors
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
Issues Surrounding VLTP
Registrant’s Use of Donated Leave
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
• Donor’s use of leave
– Again, remind registrants that they
have to used all of their available
accumulated and accrued leave
(e.g., annual, sick, comp, etc.)
before they can access donated
leave
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Donor’s Use of Sick Leave for Family Care– If a full-time employee is in the VLTP to provide care for a family member (not his/herself), that
employee can’t use more than more than 480 hours of sick leave within a leave year to care for a
family member with a serious health condition, regardless of whether or not the sick leave is
accrued OR donated • Please note that this 480 limit starts anew at the beginning of each new leave year
– Please note that there is no current edit for this, so as the VLTP Coordinator you have to track
this; once employee reaches this limit, you can go into OVLTP and change the Type of Leave
under the Approved Recipients’ Section, to reflect that the employee may only receive donated
annual leave
• Recommend asking your CASTLE POC to provide you with the amount of sick leave the employee has used for
family purposes that leave year (e.g., for family illness/medical appts and family bereavement), and add that to the
amount of donated sick leave the person has received and used that leave year to make such determinations
– Please note that this limitation applies only to sick leave (donated or accrued), and has no
effect on an employee’s ability to receive/use donated annual leave for family purposes;
again, doesn’t apply if in the VLTP for his/her own illness
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• Donated leave may not be used in the
following situations: • For a different medical emergency
• To donate it to another leave recipient
• For a lump-sum payment
• For a vacation or other personal reason
• To extend employment if termination is otherwise required, such
as an expiration of appointment or a removal decision
• To recredit unused donated leave after the leave recipient
terminates from the federal government and returns to
employment
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
Leave Donation Guidelines and
Process
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Annual Leave Donation Limitations
– An employee may donate no more than one-half of the amount of annual
leave he/she would accrue during the leave year
• e.g. an employee who earns 4 hours of annual leave a pay period, could only
donate a maximum of 52 hours, but a person earning 8 hours of annual a pay
period could donate a maximum of 104 hours of annual leave
– A leave donor with projected use or lose annual leave may only donate
the lesser of:
• One-half of expected accrued leave for the leave year; or
• The number of hours remaining in the leave year as of the date the donor
applies, for which the leave donor is scheduled to work and receive pay
– Also, can’t donate to managers in their chain of command
• However, there is no current system edit for any of this, so the VLTP coordinators
have to monitor
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d• Sick Leave Donation Limits
– An employee may donate no more than the amount of sick
leave he/she would accrue during the leave year
• e.g., for a full-time employee who was working the entire leave
year, he/she could donate a maximum of 104 hours of sick leave
– If the employee is separating, the employee may donate the
lesser of the amount of sick leave accrued in a leave year (e.g.,
104 hours for a full-time employee) or the number of hours
remaining as of the date the donor applies for which the
employee is scheduled to work and receive pay up to the
separation date
– Also, can’t donate to managers in their chain of command
– However, again, there is no current system edit for any of this,
so the VLTP coordinators have to monitor
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• So, recommend sending out a reminder to your workforce about
these limitations, so they don’t try to transfer a large amount of leave
at the end of the leave year or the end of their career, and we can’t
accept such donations due to these limitations!
– For example, while a full-time employee with use/lose could
donate 104 hours of annual leave in June (if he/she earns 8
hours a pay period of annual leave), he/she cannot donate 104
hours of annual leave if there are only 3 days left in the leave
year, as he/she could only donate 24 hours in this example
– Another example, a person could donate 104 hours of sick leave
in October, even if he/she was going to retire on January 1st.
However, if he/she waited until one day before he/she retired,
he/she could only donate one day of sick leave in this example
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
Possible waiver of previously noted donation limits:
Front-line manager may waive the limits on the amount
of donated annual and or sick leave if the donation is to
a family member, or an extreme hardship situation –
see HRPM LWS-8.12, paragraphs 15 and 9
– However, please note that a waiver is not permitted for • Donating leave that the employee would not otherwise be able to use
• Donating to a manager within the employee’s chain of command
cannot be waived
• Can’t result in the employee using more than 480 hours of sick leave
in a leave year to care for a family member, whether donated or
accrued sick leave (see slide 28)
– NOTE: Use FAA Form 3600-25 to document such a
waiver, and provide a copy to Payroll VLTP POC
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Such leave donations should be submitted
online through the OVTLP system
– If the employee can’t, a paper FAA Form 3600-25
may be submitted, and the VLTP Coordinator can
input into OVLTP
• Manager has 14 calendar days to approve
– You may have to send a reminder to the manager
through the OVTLP if he/she doesn’t do so
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• FAA employees may donate annual (not
sick) leave to non-FAA Federal
government leave recipients by
submitting a completed OPM Form 630-B
• A copy of the approved form is forwarded
to the servicing payroll liaison staff
person for processing
• This donation is manually processed and
can not be processed via the online VLTP
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
• Any unused donated
leave that exists when the
employee is terminated
from the VLTP, is
restored to the leave
donors when there are
more hours than donors
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Please note that the names of donors and the amounts
donated must not be revealed, including to the leave
recipient, by other than the employee donating the leave
– However, the VLTP employee can prepare a thank you
message and provide it to the VLTP Coordinator who can
then forward it to the donors (send separate email to each
donor, or bcc if sending one email to multiple donors)
• Thus, this still maintains the donor's anonymity while the employee
still thanks his/her donors
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d
Other Related VLTP Issues
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
(VLTP) – cont’d• Advance Leave & Impact on VLTP
– Advance leave is not considered available paid
leave, so any such advanced leave does not
affect the requirement to have or project to have
24 hours of LWOP to be eligible
– Donated leave can be applied retroactively to
replace any leave that was advanced for the
VLTP medical emergency
• Please note that a corrected T&A is necessary to
apply such leave retroactively
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Relationship of VLTP to FMLA and vice versa
– FMLA is basically a job protection act, while the VLTP is an
economic hardship program
– FMLA provides for 12 weeks of LWOP (or substituted paid
leave) for an employee’s own or his/her family’s serious
health condition, or for the birth and care of a child or
adoption of child, or for military exigency or military caregiver
purposes
– Basic issue/concern in relation to the VLTP is that FMLA
entitles an eligible employee to 12 weeks of LWOP to care
and bond with a healthy child, but in order to be in the VLTP,
either the child or mother must be experiencing a serious
health condition
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• VLTP and Bereavement
– First, employee must already be in the VLTP to used donated
leave for bereavement
• In other words, can’t initially register after a family member’s death,
because there’s no longer a medical emergency
– However, second, if the employee is already in the VLTP and a
qualifying family member’s medical emergency results in death, the
leave recipient may continue using the donated leave for bereavement
purposes, for example, to arrange for and attend the funeral
• However, the total amount of leave that can be used for bereavement
purposes (whether accrued or donated leave, separate or total) cannot
exceed 104 hours during each leave year
– You can get a report from your CASTLE POC to see if any such bereavement leave
has been used by that employee during that leave year for other family memebers,
in order to make such a determination
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Federal AviationAdministration
Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) – cont’d
• Termination of VLTP registration (cont’d)
• Upon conclusion of one year (365 calendar days) following the employee’s
effective date into the VLTP per medical emergency, unless an extension has
been granted by the employee’s Head of LBO
– For an extension to be granted beyond one year, a determination must
be made that the efficiency of the service is met by retaining the
employee in the program for the extended period of time and does not
conflict with a need to fill the position full time
– This exception is documented via memo and must have a not-to-exceed
date of no more than one additional year or not to exceed the use of
1250 donated hours, whichever is greater
» Copies of the approval are maintained with the employee’s manager
and the VLTP coordinator
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Federal AviationAdministration
Questions
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