Request for Court Leave

The Army requested a decision as to the entitlement of an employee to court leave. The employee brought a civil action for sex discrimination against her employing agency, and a judgment was entered in her favor awarding her a retroactive promotion with backpay and attorney fees. The agency charged the employee annual leave for the 6 days during which she attended the trial as the plaintiff in the civil action. Court leave refers to leave authorized when an employee is summoned in connection with a judicial proceeding in which she serves as a juror or as a witness. GAO held that the employee's attendance at her trial did not fall into either of these categories. However, since one of the purposes of the Civil Rights Act is to "make whole" to the extent feasible those who have been discriminated against, GAO held that the employee was entitled to a reasonable amount of official time to pursue her administrative remedy. Accordingly, the employee was entitled to official time for court attendance and should not have been charged annual leave for that period.