Calculator
Federal Leave Accrual
Project your annual and sick leave to the last day of the leave year, pay period by pay period. Shows which accrual tier you are in, how many hours are use-or-lose, the OPM deadline to schedule them, and the exact date you cross into the next tier.
Reviewed by Jonathan D., 20-year federal employee · Formulas verified against OPM.gov ·
Rule snapshot
Reviewed October 3, 2026. Sources: 5 U.S.C. 6303 (accrual tiers) · 5 U.S.C. 6304 (carryover ceilings) · 5 CFR 630.303 (part-time divisors) · OPM leave year dates. Your inputs stay in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server and nothing is saved.
Leave year
Dates come from OPM's published leave year table.
Every pay period that ends on or after this date still earns leave.
Your creditable service
This date already folds in creditable military service for most employees.
Whole years of creditable military or prior service your agency has not credited yet. Leave at 0 for most people.
Position and schedule
Senior positions accrue 8 hours a pay period from day one.
The 360-hour ceiling is not automatic overseas. See the note under your results.
Balances from your leave and earnings statement
Projected balance at leave year end
172 hours
You are on track to finish leave year 2026 with 172 hours of annual leave, which is 68 hours under your 240-hour ceiling. Nothing is at risk on these numbers.
| Creditable service on this date | 11 years, 8 months |
|---|---|
| Annual leave accrual rate | 6 hours per pay period |
| Sick leave accrual rate | 4 hours per pay period |
| Pay periods left in the leave year | 8 of 26 |
| Annual leave still to be earned | 52 h |
| Projected annual leave at year end | 172 h |
| Your carryover ceiling | 240 hours |
| Hours you would forfeit | 0 h |
| Sick leave still to be earned | 32 h |
| Projected sick leave at year end | 232 h (no ceiling) |
| Deadline to schedule use-or-lose | November 28, 2026 |
Your next raise in leave. You complete 15 years of creditable service on January 11, 2030. Under 5 U.S.C. 6303(c) the higher rate starts at the beginning of the next pay period, which opens January 20, 2030. Your accrual goes from 6 to 8 hours a pay period, worth 48 h more every leave year.
Write it down in time. OPM's deadline to schedule use-or-lose annual leave in writing for leave year 2026 is November 28, 2026. Miss it and forfeited leave cannot be restored under 5 U.S.C. 6304(d) (5 CFR 630.308(a)).
Time in a nonpay status reduces accrual once it reaches 80 hours in the leave year, and again at each additional 80 hours (5 CFR 630.208(a)). This projection assumes you stay in a pay status.
What this models, and what it does not
| Modeled | Not modeled |
|---|---|
| The three statutory tiers in 5 U.S.C. 6303(a), including the 10-hour final pay period for the 3-to-15-year tier. | The 90-day waiting rule for temporary appointments shorter than 90 days under 5 U.S.C. 6303(b). |
| Part-time accrual by the 5 CFR 630.303 divisors of 20, 13 and 10 hours in a pay status. | Uncommon tours of duty over 80 hours a pay period, such as firefighter schedules, which prorate under 5 CFR 630.210. |
| OPM published leave year start and end dates and the published use-or-lose scheduling deadline. | Agency payroll systems that run a different pay period schedule. OPM notes some do. |
| The 240, 360 and 720 hour ceilings, with the OPM rule that SES-equivalent pay systems do not get 720. | Whether you actually fall into one of the three overseas classes in 6304(b). The tool takes your word for it. |
| The 5 U.S.C. 6303(c) rule that a new accrual rate starts the pay period after the one in which you complete the service. | Mid-year moves into or out of a senior position, where 5 CFR 630.301(f) splits the leave between two ceilings. |
| A projection that assumes you stay in a pay status for every remaining pay period. | Nonpay status. Under 5 CFR 630.208(a) accrual is reduced once nonpay hours reach 80 in a leave year, and again at each further 80. |
| Sick leave at 4 hours a pay period full-time, prorated part-time, with no ceiling. | Advanced annual or sick leave, donated leave, restored leave accounts, and the 104 and 480 hour family-care usage caps. |
Precision limits: part-time accrual is shown to two decimal places. Payroll systems carry fractional hours forward rather than rounding each pay period, so a long projection can land within an hour of your official balance. Pay period counts are derived from OPM start and end dates, which OPM itself prints only for leave year 2023. Your official balance is the one in your leave and earnings statement.
The accrual table, with the detail most tables drop
Almost every published version of this table shows 4, 6 and 8 hours and stops. Two things get left out. The 6-hour tier earns 10 hours in the last full pay period of the year, which is why its annual total is 160 and not 150. And part-time employees are not on the per-pay-period schedule at all. They earn by the hour, on a divisor.
| Service | Full-time | Part-time | Per leave year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 3 years | 4 hours a pay period | 1 hour per 20 hours in a pay status | 104 hours |
| 3 but less than 15 years | 6 hours a pay period, 10 in the last full period of the year | 1 hour per 13 hours in a pay status | 160 hours |
| 15 or more years | 8 hours a pay period | 1 hour per 10 hours in a pay status | 208 hours |
| SES, Senior Level, Scientific and Professional | 8 hours a pay period, any length of service | Pro rata of the 8-hour rate | 208 hours |
Sources: 5 U.S.C. 6303(a) and (f), 5 CFR 630.303, 5 CFR 630.301(a), OPM Annual Leave fact sheet. Per-leave-year totals are computed for a 26 pay period leave year, which is what both 2026 and 2027 are. FedTools calculation, October 2026.
Two traps worth knowing
The first is the senior-pay-system trap. A position in an OPM-determined SES-equivalent pay system earns 8 hours a pay period from day one, under 5 U.S.C. 6303(f)(2). It does not get the 90-day carryover ceiling. OPM says so directly: employees in equivalent systems do not receive a 90-day annual leave ceiling by virtue of being deemed equivalent. You accrue like an executive and carry over like everyone else, which is exactly the combination that produces a surprise forfeiture.
The second is the overseas ceiling. The 45-day limit is not a benefit of working abroad. 5 U.S.C. 6304(b) lists three specific classes, built around how you were recruited and whether return transportation is part of your conditions of employment. Locally hired staff who do not meet one of those tests stay at 240 hours. OPM prints the same caution on its own fact sheet.
Schedule it, do not just plan it
Forfeited annual leave can be restored under 5 U.S.C. 6304(d) when an agency exigency, an administrative error, or your own illness kills leave you had already scheduled. The gate is in 5 CFR 630.308(a): the use of the leave must have been scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year. For leave year 2026 that is November 28, 2026. Leave you never put on paper is not restorable, no matter why you could not take it.
If you are heading for separation or retirement instead, the balance converts to cash. Our Annual Leave Payout Calculator prices it, and the Federal Leave Optimizer finds the holiday-adjacent days that stretch the hours furthest.
Frequently asked questions
Full-time employees earn by service tier under 5 U.S.C. 6303(a): 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 or more. The middle tier has a quirk worth knowing. The statute makes the accrual in the last full pay period of the year 10 hours instead of 6, which brings a 26-period leave year to 160 hours rather than 150. The other two tiers come to 104 and 208 hours.
Part-time employees with an established regular tour earn by the hour, not by the pay period. Under 5 CFR 630.303 the rate is 1 hour of annual leave for each 20 hours in a pay status with under 3 years of service, 1 for each 13 hours at 3 but less than 15 years, and 1 for each 10 hours at 15 or more. A 64-hour pay period in the middle tier earns 4.92 hours. There is no 10-hour final pay period for part-time employees, because the divisor already spreads the rate across the year. Hours in a pay status above your agency basic working hours are disregarded.
OPM publishes the dates. Leave year 2026 begins January 11, 2026 and ends January 9, 2027, which is 26 biweekly pay periods. Leave year 2027 runs January 10, 2027 through January 8, 2028, also 26 periods. The deadline to schedule use-or-lose annual leave in writing is November 28, 2026 for the 2026 leave year and November 27, 2027 for 2027. Some agency payroll systems run a different schedule, so confirm yours.
Most employees can carry over 30 days, which OPM states as 240 hours, under 5 U.S.C. 6304(a). Employees stationed outside the United States who fall into one of the three classes listed in 6304(b) carry 45 days, or 360 hours. Senior Executive Service, Senior Level and Scientific and Professional employees and the other categories listed in 6304(f) carry 90 days, or 720 hours. Anything above your ceiling on the last day of the leave year is forfeited unless it qualifies for restoration under 6304(d).
No, and this trips up a lot of senior staff. OPM is explicit that employees in SES, Senior Level or Scientific and Professional equivalent pay systems, as determined by OPM, do not receive a 90-day annual leave ceiling by virtue of being deemed equivalent. The equivalence under 5 U.S.C. 6303(f)(2) gives you the 8-hour accrual rate. It does not give you the higher carryover limit. Your ceiling stays at 240 hours, or 360 overseas. This calculator keeps those two things separate.
Not on the anniversary itself. Under 5 U.S.C. 6303(c) a change in the rate of accrual takes effect at the beginning of the pay period after the pay period in which you completed the required service. So if you complete 15 years on a Wednesday in the middle of a pay period, you finish that period at 6 hours and start the next one at 8. The calculator computes both dates for you and prints the extra hours a year the new rate is worth.
Under 5 U.S.C. 6307(a) sick leave accrues at one-half day, which OPM states as 4 hours, for each full biweekly pay period. The rate does not change with years of service. Part-time employees earn 1 hour for each 20 hours in a pay status. There is no ceiling on sick leave accumulation: 6307(b) says unused sick leave accumulates for use in succeeding years. A 26-period leave year adds 104 hours for a full-time employee.
For non-retired members of a uniformed service, yes. Full credit for honorable active military service counts for annual leave accrual. For retired members, 5 U.S.C. 6303(a)(A) through (C) narrow it sharply: credit is limited to service during a declared war, service in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized, or a disability retirement connected to armed conflict or caused by an instrumentality of war. Waiving military retired pay does not lift that limit for leave purposes, unlike the FERS retirement credit rules.
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