Employees may be authorized to attend meetings and conferences of a professional association at Postal Service expense in either of the following cases:
- Attendance is for training purposes as defined in 740.
- Attendance is related to the job or function in which the employee is employed and is expected to contribute to the employee’s improved performance.
When authorized under 754.1, time in actual attendance at a professional meeting or conference is considered to be official business for compensation purposes, and leave is not charged to the employee. However, managers should review the program schedule or agenda and authorize official attendance only for that portion of the meeting or conference that meets the criteria in 754.1.
Exception: Employees may be authorized to attend the entire meeting or convention in any of the following cases:
- The employee is scheduled to make a speech, present a paper, or conduct or chair a meeting session.
- The employee has been nominated or previously elected as an officer of the professional association.
- The employee has been designated as an official representative of the Postal Service.
If authority is granted for attendance at only a portion of a meeting or convention, the employee may request annual leave to attend the unapproved portions, and, if leave is granted, the employee must pay the expenses for those unapproved portions.
Managers are encouraged to be liberal in approving annual leave (consistent with work priorities) for other employees who desire to attend a professional association meeting or convention at their own expense.
When several employees in the same organizational unit are in the same profession, the manager chooses which employees, if any, may attend the professional meeting or convention. The criteria for the selection of employees for training, listed in 713, may be applied.
Handbook F-15, Travel and Relocation, describes the conditions for payment of registration fees, travel, and subsistence costs for employees authorized to attend meetings or conventions at Postal Service expense.
An eBuy requisition must be approved before the Postal Service will pay registration fees or expenses other than travel or per diem. (See 732.13 on preparing an eBuy requisition.)
