NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 3600.1C Effective Date: September 01, 2022 Expiration Date: September 01, 2027

Subject: Attendance and Leave

Responsible Office: Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer

Appendix A. Definitions

Administrative workweek. The period an employee is regularly scheduled to work within a workweek (i.e., a period of seven consecutive 24-hour periods designated in advance). For a full-time employee, it consists of the 40-hour basic workweek plus any periods of regularly scheduled overtime work. For a part-time employee, it means the officially prescribed days and hours during which the employee is regularly scheduled to work.

Available Paid Leave. Includes an employee’s accrued, accumulated, recredited, and restored annual or sick leave. It does not include advanced annual or sick leave, any annual or sick leave in an employee’s set-aside leave accounts which has not yet been transferred to the employee’s regular annual or sick leave account, or other forms of paid time off (i.e., credit hours under flexible work schedules, compensatory time off, or religious compensatory time off).

Basic Workweek. The officially prescribed days and hours during which a full-time employee is entitled to basic pay. For example, the basic work week for all full-time employees is 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, including a daily non-compensable lunch period of 30 minutes. Variations from the basic workweek may be authorized by a management official.

Compressed Work Schedule. An 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement that is scheduled (i.e., required) by an agency for less than 10 workdays.

Credit Hours. Hours that an employee elects to work, with supervisory approval, in excess of the employee’s basic work requirement under a flexible work schedule.

Employee. The meaning given in Definitions at 5 U.S.C. § 6301(2) that includes all full-time employees and part-time employees with scheduled tours of duty in all pay systems. Employees with intermittent tours of duty are excluded from coverage under 5 U.S.C. §§ 6329a, 6329b, and 6329c.

Enhanced Annual Leave. Enhanced Annual Leave is a recruiting incentive that may be used for difficult-to-fill positions. This is a discretionary authority, not an employee entitlement. A newly appointed or reappointed employee (after a 90-day break in service) may receive service credit for prior non-Federal service or active duty uniformed service that otherwise would not be creditable for the purpose of determining his or her annual leave accrual rate. To be eligible, the individual must have prior work experience that is directly related to the duties of the position to which he or she is being appointed and the prior experience must be necessary to achieve an important Agency mission or performance goal.

Family Member. The definition of family member in 5 CFR pt. 630 covers a wide range of relationships, including spouses, and parents thereof; sons and daughters, and spouses thereof; parents, and spouse’s thereof; brothers and sisters, and spouses thereof; grandparents and grandchildren, and spouses thereof; domestic partners and parents thereof, including domestic partners of any individual listed prior; and any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. See 5 CFR § 630.1202 for definitions of each family member (i.e., son, daughter, and spouse) as it relates to FMLA.

Flexitour. A work schedule in which an employee is allowed to select starting and stopping times within the flexible hours authorized by the organization. Once approved, the hours are fixed until the employee requests and the supervisor approves a different schedule.

Flexible Work Schedule (FWS). A work schedule with an 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement that allows an employee to determine his or her own schedule within the limits set by the organization. In the case of a part-time employee, an employee may determine his or her own schedule within the limits set by the organization. At NASA, there are three work schedule options under FWS: flexitour, variable week, and maxiflex.

Health Care Provider. This term includes any health care provider as defined by 5 CFR § 630.1202.

Leave Donor. An employee whose voluntary written request for transfer of annual leave to the annual leave account of a leave recipient is approved by a designated official.

Leave Recipient. A current employee for whom NASA has approved an application to receive annual leave from the annual leave accounts of one or more leave donors.

Leave Sharing Programs. This includes any of the following leave programs: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP), the Voluntary Leave Bank Program (VLBP), and the Emergency Leave Transfer Program (ELTP).

Maxiflex Work Schedule. A work schedule that contains core hours on fewer than 10 workdays in the biweekly pay period and in which a full-time employee has a basic work requirement of 80 hours for the biweekly pay period, but in which an employee may vary the number of hours worked on a given workday or the number of hours each week within the limits established for the organization

Medical Certification. A written statement signed and dated by a registered practicing health care provider or other appropriate expert that certifies to the incapacitation, examination, or treatment of an employee or qualified family member and the duration of the medical emergency.

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 and to result in a loss of substantial income (at least 24 hours for a full-time employee).

Other than Full-Time Career Employment. Employment with a work schedule that is regularly scheduled from 16 to 32 hours per week or 32 to 64 hours per pay period.

Set-Aside Leave Accounts. While using donated leave, a leave recipient may accrue up to 40 hours of annual leave and 40 hours of sick leave in a set-aside account. The leave in the set-aside account will be transferred to the employee’s regular leave accounts when the medical emergency ends or if the employee exhausts all donated leave. Leave in set-aside accounts is not available for use by the employee until transferred to the employee’s regular leave accounts.

Shared Leave Status. The status of an employee while using transferred leave in either the VLTP, VLBP, or the ELTP.

Variable Week. A type of flexible work schedule containing core hours on each workday in the biweekly pay period and in which a full-time employee has a basic work requirement of 80 hours for the biweekly pay period, but in which an employee may vary the number of hours worked on a given workday or the number of hours each week within the limits established for the organization.

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