Can my agency waive the annual leave donation limit?

Yes. Every agency is required by 5 CFR 630.908(c) to establish written criteria for waiving the donation limits, and any waiver must be documented in writing. If you want to donate more than half your annual accrual, ask your HR office what its waiver criteria are.

What happens if a recipient receives more hours than they end up needing?

Unused donated leave is restored to the donors proportionally when the medical emergency ends. It cannot be kept as a windfall: it can't be cashed out in a lump-sum payment, carried into unrelated leave use, or recredited after the recipient leaves federal service.

Does restored leave expire?

Restored hours rejoin your regular annual leave account — in the current or next leave year, your choice — and from then on they are subject to the normal use-or-lose carryover limit at the end of that leave year.

Can donated leave be cashed out when the recipient retires?

No. Donated annual leave may not be included in a lump-sum payment upon separation or retirement. Whatever is unused when the medical emergency or federal service ends is returned to the donors instead.

What should I do if someone pressures me about donating?

Document what happened and raise it with your HR office or union representative. 5 CFR 630.912 prohibits intimidation, threats, coercion, and promised rewards around leave donation — in both directions, donating and declining alike.

VLTP Rules and Donation Limits, Explained

By the LeaveTransfer.org team · Last reviewed July 1, 2026

The Voluntary Leave Transfer Program runs on a short set of firm rules: donors may give up to half a year's leave accrual, never to their own supervisor, and never under pressure; recipients must use their own leave first and only for the approved emergency; and whatever goes unused flows back to the donors. This page collects every rule and limit in one place, with citations.

How the donation limit is calculated

The baseline rule (5 CFR 630.908): in any leave year, you may donate no more than one-half of the annual leave you would be entitled to accrue that year. An employee accruing 8 hours per pay period accrues 208 hours a year and may donate up to 104; a 6-hour earner may donate up to 80; a 4-hour earner up to 52. The cap covers your combined giving for the year — VLTP donations and leave-bank contributions share one ceiling.

Use-or-lose donors get a tighter formula. If you're projected to forfeit leave at year-end, you may donate the lesser of the half-accrual figure or the number of hours remaining in the leave year that you're scheduled to work and receive pay. The intent: donation is for sharing real hours, not laundering leave that was about to vanish anyway.

The caps are waivable. Every agency is required to establish written criteria for waiving the donation limits, and each waiver must be documented in writing. If a colleague's need outstrips your cap, the question to ask HR is: "What are our waiver criteria under 5 CFR 630.908(c)?"

The supervisor prohibition

An agency may not transfer your annual leave to your immediate supervisor — no exceptions, no waiver. The line targets the power dynamic, not the person: a boss should never be in a position to benefit from hours given by someone whose performance they rate. Donations to higher-level managers outside your direct reporting line, or to supervisors elsewhere in the agency, are not barred by this rule.

The anti-coercion rule cuts both ways

5 CFR 630.912 prohibits any employee from directly or indirectly intimidating, threatening, or coercing another employee with respect to donating, receiving, or using leave under the program. The regulation is unusually explicit that positive pressure counts too: "intimidate, threaten, or coerce" includes promising or conferring a benefit — an appointment, a promotion, compensation — as well as threatening any reprisal.

In practice: sharing a colleague's approved campaign is fine; tracking who donated, praising donors in performance conversations, or leaning on non-donors is not. If you feel pressured in either direction, raise it with HR or your union representative.

Rules that bind the recipient

Emergency-only use. Donated leave may be used solely for the medical emergency the agency approved — nothing else.
Own leave first. Each pay period, accrued annual leave (and sick leave where applicable) must be exhausted before donated hours are touched — with a narrow statutory exception for certain employees with combat-related disabilities who are undergoing treatment for the disability (5 U.S.C. 6333(b)).
Set-aside accrual caps. While using donated leave, the recipient's newly accrued annual and sick leave flow into set-aside accounts capped at 40 hours each per emergency, released when the emergency ends or donated leave is exhausted.
No carryover penalty during the emergency. Donated leave accumulates without regard to the usual year-end annual leave ceiling while the emergency continues.

What donated leave can never become

Three conversions are flatly barred. Donated leave cannot be passed on to a different leave recipient (except through a donor's restoration election); it cannot be included in a lump-sum annual leave payment when the recipient separates or retires; and it cannot be recredited if the recipient later returns to federal service. Donated hours exist to bridge the emergency — they are not a transferable asset.

How restoration of unused leave works

When the emergency ends, unused donated leave returns to donors pro rata. The formula: divide unused hours by total transferred hours, multiply by each donor's donation, and round to the agency's leave increment. If 400 hours were donated and 100 remain, every donor gets back 25% of what they gave.

Edge cases the regulation settles: if eligible donors outnumber the hours available, nothing is restored; donors who retired, died, or otherwise left federal service receive no restoration; and if a workers'-compensation buy-back later restores leave the recipient had used, those hours also flow back to donors. Each donor elects whether restored leave lands in the current leave year, the next leave year, or goes onward to another recipient — and once restored, it counts toward the normal use-or-lose ceiling at year-end.

Who keeps the program honest

Agencies must maintain records — approvals by category, donor and recipient grade levels, hours used — and OPM may require reporting to evaluate the program (5 CFR 630.913). Inspectors general audit agency programs against these rules; GAO's own IG, for example, published a full audit of GAO's VLTP controls in 2020. The paper trail exists so that generosity can't be quietly gamed.

Frequently asked questions

Can my agency waive the annual leave donation limit?: Yes. Every agency is required by 5 CFR 630.908(c) to establish written criteria for waiving the donation limits, and any waiver must be documented in writing. If you want to donate more than half your annual accrual, ask your HR office what its waiver criteria are.
What happens if a recipient receives more hours than they end up needing?: Unused donated leave is restored to the donors proportionally when the medical emergency ends. It cannot be kept as a windfall: it can't be cashed out in a lump-sum payment, carried into unrelated leave use, or recredited after the recipient leaves federal service.
Does restored leave expire?: Restored hours rejoin your regular annual leave account — in the current or next leave year, your choice — and from then on they are subject to the normal use-or-lose carryover limit at the end of that leave year.
Can donated leave be cashed out when the recipient retires?: No. Donated annual leave may not be included in a lump-sum payment upon separation or retirement. Whatever is unused when the medical emergency or federal service ends is returned to the donors instead.
What should I do if someone pressures me about donating?: Document what happened and raise it with your HR office or union representative. 5 CFR 630.912 prohibits intimidation, threats, coercion, and promised rewards around leave donation — in both directions, donating and declining alike.

Donating annual leaveDonate annual leave to a federal coworker through the VLTP: donation limits, OPM Forms 630-A and 630-B, tax rules, and what happens to unused hours.OPM Forms 630, 630-A, 630-B & 630-COPM Form 630, 630-A, 630-B, and 630-C explained: what each VLTP form does, which one you need, official download links, and where to submit them.Leave banks vs. leave transferFederal leave bank vs. the VLTP: how leave banks work, membership and contributions, where unused leave goes, and how to choose between the two programs.VLTP frequently asked questionsAnswers to the most common questions about the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program: donating, receiving, forms, taxes, privacy, and how LeaveTransfer.org helps.

Sources

Official government sources, verified July 1, 2026: