Will I get paid for my unused religious leave?

The following is a question submitted by a Federal Times readers about retirement and other issues facing the federal workforce. It is answered by Reg Jones, a charter member of the senior executive service and a Federal Times columnist since 1995.

Question: When I retire, will I get paid for my 88.5 hours of religious leave I have saved? Can my total of 350 Hours of LA and 150 hours of Comp Time plus the 88.5 hours of religious leave exceed the 448 hours, or are the other hours handled separately from the LA hours?

Reg’s Response: Yes, you will get credit for your unused hours of religious leave. That right is explicitly stated in the Code of Federal Regulations quoted below:

5CFR550.1008 Employee separation or transfer.

(a) Upon an employee’s separation from Federal service or transfer to another Federal agency, the losing agency must compensate the employee for any positive balance of earned religious compensatory time off to his or her credit. The agency must pay the employee for hours of earned religious compensatory time off at the hourly rate of basic pay in effect at the time religious compensatory time off was earned.

Got a question for the Federal Times expert?

Send inquiries to: fedexperts@federaltimes.com.

Reg Jones is the resident expert on retirement and the federal government at Federal Times. From 1979 until 1995, he served as an assistant director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management handling recruiting and examining, white and blue collar pay, retirement, insurance and other issues. From 1977 to 1979, he was deputy director of the Bureau of Policies and Standards in the U.S. Civil Service Commission. The opinions expressed are his own.

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