DOD Announced Changes to the Special Leave Accrual Policy for Service Members
Today, Department of Defense (DoD) announced changes to the special leave accrual (SLA) policy for service members. The DoD Instruction 1327.06, “Leave and Liberty Policy and Procedures,” was reissued incorporating change five to implement the provisions of section 701 of title 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) that was revised by section 632 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.
A service member may retain a maximum of 60 days of annual leave from one FY to the next FY. However, a service member who is assigned to certain duties that prevent he or she from taking annual leave may be eligible for SLA that qualifies the service member to retain more than 60 days of leave at the end of the FY.
The revised provisions of section 701 U.S.C. title 10 reduced the maximum amount of accrued leave that may be retained by a Service member at the end of the FY from 120 days (60 days of annual leave plus 60 days of SLA leave) to 90 days (60 days of annual leave plus 30 days of SLA leave). Also, the timeframe a service member may retain SLA leave was shortened from three FYs to two FYs following the FY in which the SLA qualifying duty ended. Further, a duty assignment in support of a designated contingency operation by itself is no longer a qualifying duty for SLA. These changes went into effect on January 1, 2023.
The revised provisions of law made by the FY2023 NDAA do not negatively impact the unused SLA leave of service members who accumulated SLA leave due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or due to other reasons that occurred before FY2023. Service members may continue to use this SLA leave according to the timelines previously established by their Service.
Beginning in FY2023, a service member in a SLA qualifying duty such as an assignment to a designated deployable ship may retain a maximum of 90 days of accrued leave (60 days annual leave and 30 days of SLA leave) at the end of the FY if he or she receives written approval to do so from the first flag or general officer in their chain of command. The service member’s leave that is approved as SLA will be forfeited unless used before the end of the second FY following the FY in which the SLA qualifying duty ended. For example, SLA leave that is approved for FY2023 will be forfeited unless used by September 30, 2025.
Service members who have approved SLA leave that caused their accrued leave balance to exceed 90 days as of December 31, 2022 may continue to carry SLA leave that is in excess of 90 days; however, any SLA leave that exceeds 90 days on or before September 30, 2026 will be forfeited. No service member may be authorized additional SLA at the end of the FY2023 if their accrued leave balance exceeds 90 days.
Enlisted Service members who would lose accumulated SLA leave in excess of 90 days may elect to be paid for SLA leave up to 30 days. This election can only be taken once in a career. The sell back counts toward the enlisted service member’s cap of 60 days over a career.
Service members are encouraged to review the “remarks” section of their Leave and Earning Statement to monitor their SLA leave balance and to determine the expiration date of their SLA leave to avoid forfeiting days of SLA leave.
The reissuance of DoD Instruction 1327.06 incorporating change can be found here.
FOR MHS NURSES AND PROVIDERS ONLY – Make Your Voice Heard – Complete the MHS Employee Retention Survey Today
The MHS is committed to fostering a positive work experience for all MHS employees. The Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) is currently seeking to understand the factors that make the MHS a place where providers and nurses want to work and has requested that DHA conduct a short survey of all MTF providers and nurses (Active Duty and government staff only) to measure perceptions and satisfaction about MHS benefits, workload, and leadership.
If you are not an MHS Nurse or Provider, you do NOT need to take this survey. If you are a contractor, you also do NOT need to take this survey.
The survey is open through September 8 and only takes about 5 minutes to complete. All responses will be completely anonymous.
Please click or copy and paste the following link into your internet browser to complete the survey:
http://survey2.zogbyanalytics.com/survey/2023/retention/Live/RetentionLive.htm
For questions about this survey effort, please contact Dr. Patrice Robinson-Haley, Director, Data Analytics and Policy Oversight, OASD, Health Affairs.
Thank you for your support of this important initiative.
Finance Friday Articles
- 10 Reasons People Regret Buying Whole Life Insurance
- Die With Zero
- Financial Superpowers
- How to Open a Roth IRA for Your Kids (and Should You)?
- Pick Your Investment Mix
- The Student Loan Holiday Is Ending: What You Need to Do Now
- Upfront Costs Of Buying A Home
- You Probably Need Less Money Than You Think For Retirement
You Made CDR! Now What?
If you are one of the lucky people who made CDR, I have some things for you to consider:
- The next 2-3 years of fitreps may mean very little to your overall career. First, you are soon going to be in the most competitive group in the Medical Corps, Commanders scratching and clawing to make Captain. If you are at a medium to large command, no matter what you do as a junior Commander, you are likely to get a P (promotable) on your fitreps. That is just how it works for most commands.
- This first bullet means that now is the PERFECT time to do something “alternative” (off the usual career path for a physician) or take a position that you know will get you 1/1 fitreps or be part of a very small competitive group. Go to the War College. Take a senior operational job where you’ll get a 1/1 fitrep. Become a Detailer. Apply for fellowship because the NOB fitreps won’t hurt you as a junior Commander or Commander Select. Now is the time to do these type of things. You don’t want to wait until you are a few years below zone for Captain. When you reach this stage you’ll need competitive EP fitreps.
- After you are selected for your next rank is also a great time to move/PCS. Have you ever been OCONUS? If not, now would be a great time to go. You can PCS somewhere for 2-3 years and then PCS to the command where you are going to set up shop and try to make Captain. At OCONUS commands there is more turnover of staff, so major leadership jobs like MEC President, Department Head, and Director positions open up more frequently, setting you up to get a senior position when you return to CONUS.
- You may think I’m crazy, but it is time to start thinking about how you are going to make Captain. As I mentioned in the first bullet, getting a job that will make you a Captain is tough and competitive. Now is the time to do the things that will make you an excellent candidate for one of those jobs. Want to be a Residency Director? Maybe you should get a degree in adult or medical education. Want to be a Director? Maybe you should get a management degree like a Masters in Medical Management or an MBA. Want to be a senior operational leader? Now is the time to do Joint Professional Military Education I and/or II.
- Here is a list of the jobs that I think will likely make you a Captain. Read the list…figure out which of these jobs you are going to use to make Captain…and get busy preparing yourself to get them:
- Residency Director
- Department Head in a large MTF
- Director
- Chief Medical Officer
- Officer-in-Charge
- Major committee chair
- Medical Executive Committee President
- BUMED staff
- Specialty Leader
- Deployment requiring an O-5 or O-6
- Detailer
- Senior operational leader
- Division/Group/Wing Surgeon
- CATF Surgeon
- Amphib or CVN Senior Medical Officer
Optimally you’ll have the time when you are an O5 to do multiple jobs on the preceding list. For example, as an O5 I had been a Detailer, a Specialty Leader, Department Head, Associate Director, and CO of a deployed unit. My next step was to become a Director at a major MTF, and while I was a senior LCDR and CDR I obtained a Naval Postgraduate School MBA as well as achieved certification as a Certified Physician Executive to try and make myself a competitive candidate for a Director position. Ultimately, I became the Director for Healthcare Business at NMC Portsmouth.
Congratulations on making Commander…take a deep breath…and start thinking about some of the things I mentioned in this post. Before you know it you’ll be in zone for Captain.
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 