Annual Leave

Employees serving under a new appointment earn 4 hours of annual leave every pay period for the first three years.  After completing three years of Federal service, employees begin to earn 6 hours of annual leave per pay period.  After 15 years of Federal service, employees earn 8 hours of annual leave per pay period.   Employees may carry over up to 240 hours of annual leave per leave year.

Sick Leave

Employees earn 4 hours of sick leave per pay period regardless of their service time.  There is no limit to the amount of sick leave that may be carried over from one year to the next.

Leave Availability

Annual and sick leave are earned your first pay period.  Accumulated leave as well as leave that will be earned during the calendar year, but has not yet accrued, may be used with prior approval from your supervisor.

Voluntary Leave Transfer Program

ORO employees may participate in the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program.   This program allows employees to help other DOE employees by donating annual leave.   When an employee applies and is approved for the program due to an illness or similar emergency situation, other employees may donate annual leave to the affected employee.  There is a limit on the amount of leave an employee may donate.  Employees earning 4 hours of annual leave per pay period may donate up to 52 hours of annual leave per year to an affected employee.  Employees earning 6 hours per pay period are limited to 80 hours of leave eligible for donation and employees earning 8 hours of annual leave per pay period can donate up to 104 hours of annual leave per year.

Salary Payment

Employees are paid on the second Thursday following the completion of a pay period.  Our pay periods are in two week intervals.  Direct deposit is strongly encouraged.

Insurance

Employees may select from a variety of health insurance plans and life insurance options upon entering on duty.  Every year in the fall, employees are given the opportunity to make changes to their health insurance.  There is no open season for life insurance.

Thrift Savings Plan

The Federal government participates in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).   Employees assigned to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) receive an automatic 1 percent agency contribution of their annual salary into the plan.  In addition, FERS employees' contributions are matched dollar-for-dollar for the first 3 percent of pay that is contributed each pay period and 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2 percent of pay contributed.  Employee contributions over 5 percent are not matched.   FERS employees may contribute up to 12 percent of their annual pay into the plan up to the annual Internal Revenue Service limits.  Employees assigned to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) may contribute up to 7 percent of the annual pay into the plan.  CSRS employees do not receive any agency automatic or matching contributions.

The TSP offers five investment funds.  The "C" fund is the Common Stock Investment Fund.  The "F" fund is the Fixed Income Index Fund.   The "G" fund is the Government Securities Investment Fund.  The "S" fund is the Small Capitalization Stock Investment Fund.  The "I" fund is the International Stock Index Investment Fund.  Employees may participate in one or any combination of the five funds.  TSP open seasons occur in late spring and late fall.  Additional information regarding the five investment funds may be obtained at the TSP web site.