Federal Annual Leave Calculator

Federal annual leave

How federal employees earn annual leave

Most federal civilian employees earn annual leave every biweekly pay period, and the amount depends on years of service. OPM's accrual table sets three steps for full-time employees: 4 hours a pay period with less than 3 years of service, 6 hours with 3 but less than 15 years, and 8 hours with 15 years or more. The middle group gets 10 hours instead of 6 in the last pay period of the year, which is how a 26-pay-period leave year comes out to exactly 160 hours, or 20 days.

Part-time employees earn leave in proportion to their hours in a pay status: 1 hour for every 20 hours with less than 3 years of service, 1 hour for every 13 hours with 3 to 15 years, and 1 hour for every 10 hours after 15 years (5 CFR 630.303). Hours in a pay status above the agency's basic working hours in a pay period do not count toward a part-time employee's leave (5 CFR 630.202(b)), so the calculator counts at most 80 hours a pay period.

An uncommon tour of duty is an established tour of more than 80 hours of work in a pay period, such as a tour that includes standby duty or a firefighter's regular tour under 5 U.S.C. 5545b (5 CFR 630.201). OPM's formula multiplies the full-time rate by the average hours in the tour per pay period and divides by 80, so a 144-hour tour in the 3 to 15 year category earns 6 x 144 / 80 = 10.8 hours a pay period. Members of the Senior Executive Service and senior-level and scientific or professional employees earn 8 hours every pay period, whatever their years of service.

What counts as years of service

Service for leave accrual is broader than time at your current agency. OPM counts all civilian service that is potentially creditable for retirement, including FERS service, and gives full credit for honorable active military service to employees who are not retired members of a uniformed service. Retired members get credit only in limited cases, such as service during a war declared by Congress or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge is authorized.

A new rate starts at the beginning of the pay period after the pay period in which you complete 3 or 15 years of service (5 U.S.C. 6303(c)). Enter your leave service computation date (SCD) and the calculator finds that pay period and applies the higher rate from then on. Two groups do not follow the normal schedule: a temporary employee with an appointment of less than 90 days accrues annual leave only after 90 days of continuous employment, and an intermittent employee with no regular tour of duty does not accrue annual leave.

Rates from the OPM annual leave fact sheet, 5 U.S.C. 6303(a) and 5 CFR 630.303. The yearly totals in the last row are our arithmetic for a 26-pay-period leave year.

The 2026 leave year and the use or lose limit

A leave year begins on the first day of the first full biweekly pay period in a calendar year and ends the day before the first full pay period of the next year. For most employees, the 2026 leave year runs from January 11, 2026 through January 9, 2027, which is 26 pay periods. Not every year has 26: OPM notes that leave year 2023 had 27 pay periods. OPM also notes that some agency payroll systems use a different pay period schedule, so check your agency's dates if your leave statement does not match the table below.

Unused annual leave carries into the next leave year only up to a ceiling. Most employees in the United States can carry over 30 days, which is 240 hours. Employees stationed overseas who meet the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 6304(b) have a 45-day ceiling, and members of the Senior Executive Service and senior-level and scientific or professional employees have a 90-day ceiling. OPM calls the leave above your ceiling use or lose leave: any accrued annual leave over the ceiling is forfeited if you do not use it by the final day of the leave year.

Source: OPM, Leave Year Beginning and Ending Dates. These dates apply to most employees.

How the calculator projects your balance

The calculator starts from the balance on your leave and earnings statement and the pay period that statement covers. It adds the leave you will still earn in each remaining pay period of the leave year, including the 10-hour final pay period for the 6-hour category, and subtracts the annual leave you already plan to take. Anything above your ceiling is projected use or lose leave.

Take an employee with 230 hours after pay period 18 of the 2026 leave year, in the 3 to 15 year category, with 16 hours of leave already planned. Eight pay periods remain, adding 7 x 6 + 10 = 52 hours. The projected balance is 230 + 52 - 16 = 266 hours, so 26 hours are over the 240-hour ceiling. Spread over the 8 remaining pay periods, that is 3.25 extra hours of leave per pay period; in total, 26 hours is three and a quarter 8-hour days. The pay period schedule under the calculator shows the running balance before any planned leave.

If your balance stays under the ceiling, the calculator shows how much will carry into the next leave year instead. Restored leave is kept apart: annual leave restored above the ceiling is credited to a separate leave account (5 U.S.C. 6304(d)(2)), so do not add it to the balance you enter.

Scheduling use or lose leave and getting it restored

Forfeited leave can be restored only in narrow cases, and scheduling is the step that protects you. An agency may restore annual leave lost because of an exigency of the public business or the employee's sickness only if the leave was scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year (5 CFR 630.308). For the 2026 leave year, OPM lists that deadline as November 28, 2026. Leave scheduled after the deadline is forfeited if you do not use it by the final day of the leave year.

Leave lost through administrative error must be restored as well. OPM's fact sheet gives an example that matters in practice: if you forfeit leave because your supervisor did not schedule it or ask for an exigency determination, the supervisor's negligence counts as administrative error and the leave must be restored. Employees and supervisors share the job of planning leave across the year. Restored leave has its own clock: in most cases it must be scheduled and used by the end of the leave year ending 2 years after the date of restoration for an administrative error, the end of the exigency, or the date you are able to return to duty after an illness (5 CFR 630.306).

Some losses cannot be fixed. If a weather closure, an extra holiday granted by executive order or other time off without charge to leave keeps you from using scheduled use or lose leave, and you cannot reschedule it before the year ends, OPM says the leave is forfeited and cannot be restored. Scheduling it earlier in the fall leaves room for those surprises.

Annual leave when you leave federal service

You receive a lump-sum payment for accumulated and accrued annual leave when you separate from federal service, or when you enter active duty in the armed forces and choose a lump sum. To see what an hour of your leave is worth, look up your hourly rate with the GS pay calculator. The FERS paycheck deductions guide walks through the rest of your leave and earnings statement, and the TSP contribution guide covers Thrift Savings Plan deductions. For vacation paid out by a private employer, use the PTO payout calculator.