Fairchild DoD civilians can donate or receive leave through the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Published June 9, 2011 By Mr. Scott King 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Medical emergencies are common, and part of life. When they happen for DoD civilian employees who don't have enough leave to get through the emergency, there is a program available to assist them - the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program. This program allows an employee who has a medical emergency and is without the availability of paid leave, to receive transferred annual leave directly from other employees with the concurrence of the respective management officials, according to Air Force Instruction 36-815. An employee who has been affected by a medical emergency may make written application to their first level supervisor or leave approving official to become a leave recipient. If such an employee is not capable of making application, due to physical or mental impairment, the leave applicant or immediate family member may designate a personal representative in writing to make the application. "Generally, the VLTP is a program which allows civil service employees to donate some of their annual leave to help other civil service employees who are out of leave and have a qualifying medical condition," said Mr. Glenn Bishop, 92nd Force Support Squadron human resources specialist. "There are some specific rules that must be followed to request to be a recipient, and specific donation request procedures that must be followed, but the benefit can be great for the employee who receives the donated leave." Employees requesting the leave must provide a description of the hardship to include health care provider certification and/or any attachments that may be used as evidence that will assist the approving official in making a decision. Medical evidence must be provided by the employee/applicant and is necessary for the employee to become a leave recipient. The employee must consent in writing to the release of this information to officials involved in the review process, according to the AFI. "Typically, the request will then go out to the employee's base, then may be expanded to include the major command, then the Air Force, and can be actually sent out DoD-wide if the need is still there," Mr. Bishop said. "We have even seen donation requests from other federal agencies that are not part of DoD, as this is a federal program." There are limitations on donations of annual leave. A potential leave donor must have a sufficient number of hours of accrued annual leave in order to donate leave. Donating leave earned in future pay periods is prohibited. The maximum donation of leave is no more than a total of one-half of the amount of annual leave an employee would be entitled to accrue during the leave year in which the donation is made; an example would be an employee who earns 104 hours of annual leave may donate a maximum of 52 hours. The limitation on donating annual leave may be waived, in writing, by the installation commander or their designee, provided the employee has extenuating circumstances and it has been documented as such, according to the AFI. "This is a necessary program and a great benefit to our employees," Mr. Bishop said. "Although federal employees have a great leave program, when an employee has an extended illness, they can end up using all of their leave (both sick and annual leave). The VLTP helps reduce the financial impact to the employee when going through a medical emergency." The VLTP also can be applied to major disasters and other emergencies. Air Force employees are allowed to make leave donations of annual leave to employees in their own agencies or other agencies who are affected by major disasters and other emergencies. Employees affected by major disasters may also be able to use leave donated under the VLTP. This also allows employees receiving such donated leave to use it before exhausting their own accumulated annual and sick leave. "You never know when bad things are going to happen," Mr. Bishop said. "Fairchild civilians have utilized this program. About four to six of our employees have used this program over the last couple of years. - it really is a great program for our civilian force."