By the end of leave year 2021, we understand that some employees will have accrued more than 240 hours of annual leave or 40 hours of universal leave and any excess would typically be forfeited. This issuance provides information on  leave restoration for leave year 2021 and the opportunity to donate excess leave to the Annual Leave Bank Program.  

As the District’s workforce continues responding to the public emergency, DCHR published updated guidance entitled COVID-19 Leave Restoration (2021), a variance that relaxes and suspends the typical procedural requirements for restoring forfeited leave. This publication minimizes obstacles to employees retaining unusable leave during this emergency.

The leave year concludes with the end of the last pay period of the year. Any leave hours an employee retains above the 240-hour annual leave or 40-hour universal leave thresholds this year will be restored for use in leave years 2022 and 2023. This restored leave will be available in a separate leave account for use in 2022 and 2023, expiring January 2024.

If you have accrued excess leave, we encourage you to donate excess hours to the annual leave bank to support your colleagues.

COVID-19 impacted employees in unimagined ways, which caused many employees to exhaust their accrued leave unexpectedly. We encourage employees who have excess leave to donate to the District’s Annual Leave Bank Program.

The District’s Annual Leave Bank Program allows employees to contribute unused, accrued annual leave to leave bank members who:

1. Experienced a personal or family medical emergency, and
2. Exhausted their available paid leave.

Employees may donate annual leave by completing the DCSF No. ALB-01 "Application to Donate Leave to the Leave Bank" form. The form must be submitted to the appropriate agency official no later than December 3, 2021. Agencies must forward all DCSF No. ALB-01 forms to DCHR’s Benefits and Retirement Administration’s inbox at dchr.benefits@dc.gov no later than December 17, 2021.

The provisions of this issuance apply to those District government agencies which are subordinate to the Mayor’s personnel authority. Other personnel authorities or independent agencies may adopt any or all these procedures to provide guidance to employees under their respective jurisdictions.

In the event of a conflict between any of the provisions of this issuance and any collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the provisions of the CBA shall control to the extent there is a difference.

Inquiries concerning the provisions of this issuance can be directed to the Policy and Compliance Administration, DCHR, at dchr.policy@dc.gov.

1. Human Resources Management, 6-B DCMR § 100 et seq.
2. DCHR Issuance 2021-36: COVID-19 Leave Restoration (October 28, 2021)
3. Hours of Work; Legal Holidays; Leave, D.C. Official Code § 1-612.01 et seq.
4. Annual Leave – Maximum Accumulation, 6-B DCMR § 1238
5. Annual Leave – Restoration, 6-B DCMR § 1239
6. Annual Leave Bank provisions, 6-B DCMR §§ 1238-1239, 6-B DCMR §§ 1250 through 1258