The Annual Leave Exchange (ALE) Program provides an option for eligible career employees to receive a lump sum payment in exchange for a portion of the annual leave that would otherwise be advanced at the beginning of the 2018 leave year. Annual leave that has been earned and accumulated during the 2017 leave year, which ends January 5, 2018, cannot be exchanged for cash. Exchanging next year’s annual leave for cash is strictly a voluntary action. The exchange option is not intended to discourage an employee’s use of annual leave. Any leave exchanged will not be available for use in the 2018 leave year.
Employees eligible for the ALE Program include the following:
n Career non-bargaining unit employees from rate schedule codes (RSCs) D (levels 1–8), E, F, S, U, V, W, X, and Z (levels 1–12) who have an annual leave balance of at least 160 hours at the end of the 2017 leave year.
n Career bargaining unit employees — full-time employees, part-time regular employees, and APWU-represented part-time flexible employees — from the following RSCs who have an annual leave balance of at least 440 hours at the end of the 2017 leave year and have used less than 75 hours of sick leave during the 2017 leave year:
n American Postal Workers Union (APWU), AFL-CIO — RSC P.
n Operating Services Division, Headquarters and Facility Services Section, Merrifield VA/APWU — RSC K.
n Mail Equipment Shops and Material Distribution Centers/APWU — RSC C.
n The National Postal Mail Handlers Union — RSC M.
n National Postal Professional Nurses/APWU — RSC G.
n Information Technology/Accounting Service Centers/APWU — RSC N.
n Postal Police Officers’ Association — RSC Y.
Employees who meet the eligibility criteria and want to exercise this option must use PostalEASE to make elections. For the election to be considered timely, employees must complete their entries in PostalEASE by 11:59 p.m. EST, December 11, 2017.
An employee may contact the Human Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC) for assistance if any of the following conditions apply:
n The employee is deaf or hard of hearing.
n The employee cannot use the telephone, Internet, an Employee Self-Service Kiosk, or intranet for a medical reason.
n The employee receives a message in PostalEASE directing him or her to contact the HRSSC when attempting to make an election.
To contact the HRSSC, do the following:
n Call the Employee Service line at 877-477-3273 (TTY 866-260-7507).
n When prompted, select 5 for the HRSSC.
n Select “Benefits” to speak with a representative who will help you.
