Excused Absence Before or After Travel

An employee may be granted up to 2 hours of excused absence (TC 01) before or after a period of travel, if the time of departure from or arrival at the official duty site would not allow substantive work to be accomplished.

Example: An employee whose tour of duty ends at 4:30 p.m. arrives at the airport at 3 p.m.; the estimated travel time to the office is 30 minutes. Since only 1 hour would remain until the end of the employee’s tour, the supervisor may grant excused absence (TC 01) for the remainder of the day.

Example: An employee whose tour begins at 8 a.m. must depart from the office at 9 a.m. to arrive at the airport by 9:30 a.m. for a 10:15 a.m. flight departure. The employee may be grantedexcused absence (TC 01) and report directly to the airport.

On rare occasions, it may be appropriate to excuse absences of longer than 2 hours. Factors to be considered when making this determination include whether or not the longer absence was caused through no fault of the employee and if requ iring the employee to report for duty would pose an undue hardship on him/her. Since each case must be judged on its own set of circumstances, it is recommended that you contact the leave policy specialist, HR Policy Branch, MRPHR, for guidance.

Change of Official Duty Station

An employee (including a new appointee) on a nontemporary appointment who has been authorized to make a change of official duty station at the Government's expense may be granted up to 80 hours of administrative leave (TC 66). The administrative leave: 

• May be used to make necessary pre- and post-moving arrangements (e.g., waiting for movers, and the starting and stopping of utility services).
• May be used to make an approved house hunting trip (a preapproved trip, made before reporting to duty by the employee and/or spouse to the new official duty station locality to find permanent living quarters to rent or purchase).
• May not be used for on-the-road travel involved in the final one-way move.
• May not be used to pack possessions since this is covered in the commuted rate allowance.

Of the 80-hour limitation, an employee may use any remaining hours within 6 months after the effective date of the change of official station or within 30 days after the end of the current school year, whichever is later, so long as the time is used for purposes related to the move and change of duty station. 

An extension of the allowable period may be granted when the employee provides adequate justification to the supervisor. The period may not be extended beyond 2 years after the effective date of the change in official duty station. 

For additional guidance on travel terminology, refer to Federal Travel Regulations (FTR), section 302-4.1 or contact your travel office. 

Meetings of Professional Organizations

At the initiative or request of the employee, excused absence (TC 01) may be granted to attend meetings or conferences of professional organizations when such attendance is in the best interest of the agency. This should not be confused with activities performed as part of official duties for the agency (e.g., speaking on behalf of the agency at a conference) which are carried out on official time. 

Excused absence (TC 01) to attend conferences or conventions may be restricted to situations where the employee is an official representative of the agency or is a contributor on the agenda.