OPM approves leave donations for tornado victims

Federal employees who want to help out fellow civil servants who were victims of tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas can donate their extra vacation time under the Office of Personnel Management's emergency leave transfer program.

President Clinton asked OPM to implement the leave transfer program for federal employees affected by the recent tornadoes in the plains states. Under the program, executive agency employees may donate their unused annual leave to employees in their own agency or other agencies who need time off to recover from the disaster.

The emergency leave transfer program differs from the federal leave-sharing program in that the use of donated leave is not restricted to those with medical emergencies. Feds affected by the tornadoes can use the donated leave for personal needs or to care for family members. Recipients of donated leave are not required to use up their own accrued vacation time before using donated time.

OPM used the leave transfer program last year for victims of the embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Guidance for that program is available on OPM's Web site. The same guidance will be used for the new program benefiting tornado victims.