The federal annual leave carryover limit is 240 hours for most full-time employees, set by 5 U.S.C. 6304 and implemented at 5 CFR Part 630.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 6304 Annual Leave Accumulation Employees recruited from the United States for overseas assignments can carry 360 hours, and Senior Executive Service, senior-level, and scientific or professional employees can carry 720. Anything above your ceiling on the last day of the leave year is forfeited, unless it qualifies for restoration under a narrow set of rules.
The 240-Hour Default
The statute lets annual leave accumulate from year to year up to 30 days, which equals 240 hours for a full-time employee on an eight-hour day. Once your balance passes that point, the excess becomes “use or lose.” If it’s still there when the leave year ends, it disappears from your balance.
The 240-hour ceiling covers most of the federal workforce, including employees under the General Schedule and the Federal Wage System. Part-time employees get a prorated version based on their scheduled hours. If you’re carrying a balance close to 240 and still earning leave each pay period, the hours accruing on top are the ones at risk.
360 Hours for Overseas-Recruited Employees
Federal employees stationed outside the United States can accumulate up to 45 days — 360 hours — before the use-or-lose rule applies.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 6304 Annual Leave Accumulation The higher ceiling exists because scheduling leave from an overseas post is harder, particularly when getting home takes real time and money.
Not every federal worker abroad qualifies. The higher limit is for employees recruited or transferred from the United States for overseas employment, certain locally hired individuals originally recruited from the U.S. whose employment terms include return transportation, and former military members discharged abroad who then take federal civilian jobs overseas.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 6304 – Annual Leave Accumulation A temporary overseas assignment on its own does not put you in this category.
720 Hours for SES and Senior-Level Employees
Members of the Senior Executive Service, senior-level employees, and scientific or professional employees carry the highest ceiling: 90 days, or 720 hours. The statute replaces the 30-day and 45-day limits with 90 days for these positions, and it applies whether the employee is stationed in the United States or abroad. At an accrual rate of eight hours per pay period, reaching 720 hours would take roughly three and a half years of banking leave without using any, so the ceiling functions as headroom rather than a normal target.
When the Leave Year Actually Ends
The federal leave year is not the calendar year. It starts on the first day of the first full biweekly pay period in a calendar year and runs until the day before the next one begins.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet – Leave Year Beginning and Ending Dates That usually pushes the end of the leave year a few days into January. The 2026 leave year ends on January 10, 2027.
Any hours above your ceiling on that last day are forfeited.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Annual Leave General Information A denied leave request, a heavy workload, or a supervisor’s scheduling change does not change the outcome on its own. Restoration is possible in specific situations, but it depends on steps you have to take well before the year runs out.
Getting Forfeited Leave Restored
Restoration is not automatic. The statute lets an agency restore forfeited annual leave in only three situations:2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 6304 – Annual Leave Accumulation
- Administrative error by the agency, such as a failure to process a properly submitted leave request.
- An exigency of the public business that prevented you from taking leave you had already scheduled. A lapse in appropriations counts.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Restoration of Annual Leave for Employees Affected by the Lapse in Appropriations
- Sickness that kept you from using leave you had already scheduled.
The trap is in the timing. For exigency and sickness, the leave has to have been scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period before the leave year ends.6eCFR. 5 CFR 630.308 – Scheduling of Annual Leave If it wasn’t scheduled by that cutoff, it cannot be restored. The advance-scheduling rule doesn’t apply to administrative error, because in that situation the agency is the cause of the loss.
Restored leave has its own use-by date. You have to use it by the end of the leave year that falls two years after the triggering event ends. The clock starts on the date leave is restored (for administrative error), the date the agency head declares the exigency over, or the date you’re determined fit to return to duty after illness.7U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Restoration of Annual Leave Miss that deadline and the restored hours are forfeited a second time, with no further remedy.
What Happens to Unused Leave When You Leave Federal Service
The carryover ceiling only matters while you’re still working. When you separate from federal employment, you get a lump-sum cash payment for the full annual leave balance on your books, including hours that are still under the ceiling.8U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Lump-Sum Payments For Annual Leave The payment equals what you would have earned if you had stayed on the job through the period the leave would have covered. Only annual leave is paid out. Sick leave, military leave, and home leave are not.
If you return to federal service before the period covered by the lump-sum payment expires, you’ll repay the portion tied to the remaining days and the hours go back onto your balance. Keep your final leave and earnings statement and request your SF-1150, the official record of your leave at separation, in case a dispute comes up later.