Special Leave Accrual Policy for the Commissioned Corps

Inquires have been made as to whether the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps) will implement a special leave accrual policy in light of the Corps’ response to the hurricane relief efforts related to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, and the Surgeon General’s request for officers to cancel annual leave during these deployments. While Corps’ leadership is supportive of the idea of granting special leave accrual and sympathetic to the needs of officers, they are nevertheless, unable to implement a policy at the present time.

The reason we are unable to implement a change in the Corps’ leave policy is that the Department’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) has opined that the legal authority to grant special leave accrual under the existing 10 U.S.C. § 701 does not apply to hurricane relief efforts such as Hurricane Katrina. The Department of Defense (DoD) OGC has also concluded that such authority does not currently exist. The Office of the Secretary of Defense has notified the Office of Commissioned Corps Force Management (OCCFM) that it has proposed legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 that would provide clarification of leave accrual for members assigned to a deployable ship or mobile unit or other duty, such as hurricane relief efforts as Hurricane Katrina. Both the House and the Senate have passed this legislation and it is awaiting the President’s signature.

For this policy to go into effect for Corps officers there are several critical events that must occur. (1) The legislation passed by Congress must contain the permissive language that would allow the special leave accrual. (2) The President must sign the legislation, and (3) the legislation must be signed before 31 December 2005. If all three criteria are met, officers with over 60 days annual leave, but less than 90 days, as of 31 December 2005, may carry over these leave days into 2006. .

OCCFM will continue to monitor the legislative process and is prepared to introduce policy necessary to authorize special leave accrual if legislative authorization is approved.

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