Your leave approving official may require subsequent medical recertification on a periodic basis, but not more than once every 30 calendar days. If your health care provider has specified on the medical certification a minimum duration of the period of incapacity, NIH may not request recertification until that period has passed.

The Leave Bank Office will consult with the Employee Relations Specialist and make determinations on an individual basis.

No. By law, sick leave cannot be donated to a Leave Bank or a recipient of the VLTP.

No. By law, donations to a Leave Bank or to a Leave Recipient cannot be returned to the donor after the donation has been processed.

The Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) allows an employee to donate annual leave directly to another employee who has a personal or family medical emergency.

A family member means an individual with any of the following relationships to the employee:

• Spouse, and parents thereof;
• Sons and daughters, and spouses thereof;
• Parents, and spouses thereof;
• Grandparents and grandchildren, and spouses thereof;
• Domestic partner and parents thereof, including domestic parents of any individual in 2 through 5 of this definition; and
• Any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.

Membership is automatically cancelled when an employee resigns, retires, transfers to another Federal agency, or dies. The cancellation is effective on the date of the action. There is no refund of the membership contribution or leave donation.

Both are leave sharing programs that depend on generous annual leave donations to provide paid leave to employees experiencing a personal and/or family medical emergency.  The primary difference is that the VLTP requires a direct donation from the donor to the recipient; whereas, in the Leave Bank Program, donations go into the bank and are distributed by the Leave Bank Board.

You may opt out for the upcoming membership year during the annual open enrollment period using ITAS.

Under the VLTP, employees in need of leave must rely on friends and co-workers to donate annual leave.  Should these requests for donations go unanswered, the Leave Bank is available. Under the Leave Bank, a reserve of leave hours is available to all Leave Bank members who are approved to be a leave recipient. Some employees choose the Leave Bank because it does not disclose medical emergencies.

One leave year, which starts with pay period one of the upcoming leave year and ends with the last pay period of the applicable leave year. If a new employee joins during his/her individual enrollment period, the membership will follow the entry on duty date through the last day of the last pay period of that year.

An applicant must:

• Experience a qualifying medical emergency, which is projected to result in at least 24 hours of non-pay status; and
• Complete and submit a VLTP form along with supporting medical documentation to the VLTP Coordinator no later than 30 calendar days following the termination of the medical emergency.

Yes, a member’s recipient status can be terminated for:

• Fraud, that is, falsifying medical documentation;
• Inability to verify leave used or refusal of verification;
• Falsifying time and attendance information; and
• Using donated leave for hours unrelated to the medical emergency.

Recipient applications are processed within 10 business days following receipt of a completed application.