Q. I retired from the Army with more than 22 years of active duty. I submitted my paperwork to FBI HR to get credit for my military time on my first day of employment in October 2010. I inquired numerous times about the status of the documents but never received a satisfactory answer. Then, after more than a year of asking, I found out the HR person submitted the paperwork to an incorrect address (now November 2011). The paperwork was resubmitted by another HR person because I told them all that they submitted it incorrectly. I finally received six hours of annual leave per pay period, which began this year. How can I get credit (six hours a pay period) from the beginning of my employment with the FBI? FBI HR told me it was from the time of the documents submitted getting certified. What are your thoughts on this situation?
A. Your FBI HR is wrong. Here’s the correct answer from OPM: “If an agency discovers an employee should have received credit for a period of service that would advance the date in which the employee reaches a higher annual leave accrual category, the correction to the service credit date should be handled immediately, and the employee’s annual leave account must be reconstructed for each affected leave year. That is, the new leave accrual rate would not be prospective only. The employee may be entitled to additional annual leave. However, in order to receive the additional leave accrual, leave records must be available to ensure the employee does not receive annual leave in excess of the statutory limit.”
