Last Updated: September 20, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

Most federal employees learn about donated leave the hard way: a diagnosis, a long absence, and a leave balance that hits zero before anyone mentions the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program. OPM's own fact sheet does not help. It describes the program as being for an employee "who has exhausted" paid leave. The regulation says something different. Under 5 CFR 630.905, your agency approves you when your unpaid absence "is (or is expected to be)" at least 24 work hours. An expected shortfall counts, so you can apply before you run out.

What Counts as a Medical Emergency

The Voluntary Leave Transfer Program lets one employee's unused annual leave be transferred to another employee facing a medical emergency. Every agency must run one (5 CFR 630.903). The Voluntary Leave Bank Program, covered below, is optional.

The regulation at 5 CFR 630.902 defines the qualifying condition: "Medical emergency means a medical condition of an employee or a family member of such employee that is likely to require an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and to result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the unavailability of paid leave."

Two things in that sentence matter. The emergency can be yours or a family member's. And the test is about income loss from missing paid leave, which is why the approval rule below is about your expected shortfall rather than your diagnosis.

The Rule That Lets You Apply Early

Section 630.905(b) sets the standard: "Before approving an application to become a leave recipient, the potential leave recipient's employing agency shall determine that the absence from duty without available paid leave because of the medical emergency is (or is expected to be) at least 24 hours" for a full-time employee, or "at least 30 percent of the average number of hours of work in the employee's biweekly scheduled tour of duty" for part-time and uncommon-tour employees.

Then 630.905(c) limits what the agency may weigh when deciding whether the emergency causes a substantial loss of income: "an agency shall not consider factors other than whether the absence from duty without available paid leave is (or is expected to be) at least 24 hours." The medical-emergency definition and the application requirements still apply.

So if your surgeon has scheduled a procedure and six weeks of recovery, and your balances will cover four of those weeks, you have an expected shortfall. You can apply today. The agency cannot add a "come back when you are at zero" condition.

Where does the "exhausted" idea come from? OPM's VLTP fact sheet summarizes the program as one where a covered employee "may donate annual leave directly to another employee who has a personal or family medical emergency and who has exhausted his or her own available paid leave." That describes who ends up using donated hours, and it matches the own-leave-first rule below. The approval standard is the regulation at 630.905, not the fact sheet summary.

One carve-out helps family caregivers. Available paid leave means accrued annual and sick leave, but if you have already used your 12 weeks of family-care sick leave for the year, the remaining sick leave is not "available" for a family member's emergency and does not count against you.

The Timeline: Application to Return of Unused Hours

The table is a FedTools summary of 5 CFR part 630, Subpart I.

Stage What happens Rule
Day 0 The medical emergency begins or is anticipated. The agency may fix a start date for it. 630.909(d)
Before your leave hits zero You, or a personal representative if you cannot act, file a written application with your name, title, grade, the nature, severity, and expected duration of the emergency, and medical certification if the agency requires it. 630.904
Approval test Expected unpaid absence of at least 24 work hours (full-time) or 30 percent of the biweekly tour (part-time). 630.905(b), (c)
Within 10 calendar days of receipt, excluding weekends and holidays The agency notifies you of approval or disapproval, with reasons if disapproved. 630.905(d), (e)
On approval The agency notifies you, or your representative, that other employees may donate to you. 630.905(d)
Donations Donors submit written requests for a specific number of hours, each ordinarily capped at half their annual accrual, or for use-or-lose leave the lesser of that half and their remaining scheduled paid work hours, unless the agency waives the cap in writing. 630.906, 630.908
Each pay period of use You use your own accrued annual leave (and sick leave, if applicable) first, then donated hours. 630.909(b)
Retroactive fix Donated hours may be substituted for leave without pay you already took, or applied to an advanced-leave debt, back to the emergency start date. 630.909(d)
While using donated leave A full-time recipient keeps accruing up to 40 hours of annual and 40 hours of sick leave in a set-aside account (adjusted for part-time and uncommon tours), released when the emergency ends or the donated leave runs out; no set-aside credit if the emergency ends by separation. 630.907
Emergency ends Triggered by separation, your own report that it is over, an agency determination after notice, or an OPM-approved disability retirement. 630.910(a)
After it ends No new donations. Unused transferred leave generally goes back to the donors pro rata, subject to the small-balance and separated-donor exceptions. 630.910(c), 630.911

Rules for Donors

If a coworker is the one in trouble, here is what you can do. Under 5 CFR 630.908(a), "a leave donor may donate no more than a total of one-half of the amount of annual leave he or she would be entitled to accrue during the leave year." If you have use-or-lose leave, 630.908(b) caps the donation at the lesser of half your accrual or the number of hours remaining in your scheduled paid work for the leave year, and 630.908(c) lets an agency waive the cap in writing under its own criteria. Donating leave you are about to lose is a legitimate use of it. Our use-or-lose deadline guide covers the timing.

Section 630.908(d) makes the cap a shared one: "The limitations in this section shall apply to the total amount of annual leave donated or contributed under subparts I and J." You cannot give half your accrual to a named recipient and another half to the leave bank in the same year.

Only annual leave can be donated, sick leave cannot.

What Happens to Leave You Do Not Use

Donated leave is not yours to keep. Section 630.911 generally restores unused transferred leave to the donors in proportion to what each gave (divide the unused hours by the total transferred, multiply by each donor's contribution, and round), except that very small balances are not restored and donors who have separated, retired, or died do not receive leave back.

Section 630.909(e) adds three restrictions. Transferred leave may not be transferred to another recipient, may not be included in a lump-sum payment under 5 U.S.C. 5551 or 5552, and may not be recredited if you leave and are reemployed. If you separate with donated hours on the books, they generally go back to the donors under those same rules, not into your final check. Our annual leave lump-sum guide covers what does get paid out.

VLTP vs. Leave Bank

Some agencies also run a Voluntary Leave Bank under Subpart J. The two programs share the approval test and the own-leave-first rule, but differ in structure.

Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Voluntary Leave Bank Program
How leave moves Donor gives directly to a named recipient Contributions pool; a three-member board with at least one employee representative allocates them
Joining as a donor No minimum stated in Subpart I Member ordinarily contributes 4, 6, or 8 hours during open enrollment, tiered by years of service (630.1004(g)), subject to board adjustments and exceptions (630.1004(h), (i))
Approval test 24 hours or 30 percent of tour, expected shortfall counts Identical test, run by the board
Own-leave-first and retroactive substitution Yes Yes
Annual cap Half of accrual, less if use-or-lose Same, and shared with VLTP
Availability Every agency must run one Optional

You can participate in both. OPM's fact sheet confirms an employee "may participate concurrently in both the VLTP and the Voluntary Leave Bank Program, if available."

A third program, the Emergency Leave Transfer Program under Subpart K, activates only when the President declares a major disaster or emergency and OPM stands up a time-limited program for that event.

Who This Rule Does Not Cover

USPS employees use the Postal Service's own Annual Leave Sharing program under Employee and Labor Relations Manual section 512.64. One difference is worth knowing: the USPS program lets unused donated leave be paid in a separating employee's lump sum. The federal VLTP does not.

Title 38 VA health-care professionals (physicians, nurses, and similar appointments) use a separate leave transfer program that the VA Secretary must run under 38 U.S.C. 7423(e), not the OPM program.

Two things we have not confirmed from a primary source and state only as general guidance: donated leave is generally taxed to the recipient as wages with no deduction for the donor, and time in shared-leave status is paid time, so it should not create a gap in your service record. Confirm both with your payroll office for your situation.

Plan the Leave You Have

Our free Federal Leave Optimizer schedules the annual-leave hours you enter against the 2026 pay calendar. It does not track sick leave or project an exhaustion date, so get that projection from your payroll office and build your VLTP application around it. Map your leave year →

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to use up all my own leave before I can apply for donated leave?

No. Under 5 CFR 630.905, the agency approves an application when your absence without available paid leave is, or is expected to be, at least 24 work hours for a full-time employee. An anticipated shortfall qualifies, so you can apply before your balance hits zero.

How long does my agency have to decide on a VLTP application?

Ten calendar days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays, from the date the agency receives the application. If it disapproves, it must give reasons in writing.

Is there a limit on how much donated leave I can receive?

No cap on the total you receive. Each donor is ordinarily capped at half the annual leave they would accrue that leave year, with a separate limit tied to remaining scheduled work hours for use-or-lose leave, unless the agency waives the cap under its written criteria. The cap is shared between VLTP and leave-bank donations.

What happens to donated leave I do not use?

Under 5 CFR 630.911, unused transferred leave is generally restored to the donors in proportion to what each gave once the medical emergency ends, with exceptions for very small balances and for donors who have separated, retired, or died. You do not keep it.

Can donated leave cover leave without pay I already took?

Yes. Under 5 CFR 630.909, transferred leave may be substituted retroactively for leave without pay, or used to pay off an advanced-leave debt, back to the date the agency set as the start of the medical emergency.

What is the difference between the VLTP and a leave bank?

VLTP donors give directly to a named recipient. A leave bank pools contributions from members, who ordinarily contribute 4, 6, or 8 hours based on years of service, subject to the board's adjustments and exceptions for members who cannot meet the minimum, and a board decides who receives leave. You may use both, but the half-of-accrual donor cap is shared.

Does the federal VLTP apply to USPS or VA doctors and nurses?

No. USPS runs its own Annual Leave Sharing program under its Employee and Labor Relations Manual, and Title 38 VA health-care professionals use a separate program the VA Secretary runs under 38 U.S.C. 7423.

Sources