[Request for Advance Decision Concerning Charging of Annual Leave]

GAO was asked whether the Air Force properly charged a civilian employee annual leave in connection with his return from temporary duty. The employee left his temporary duty station in Malaysia on a Saturday morning, arrived in Hong Kong that afternoon, departed on the following Monday, and reported to his permanent duty station in Ohio on Wednesday. The agency, using a constructive travel formula, determined that the employee should have left Hong Kong on Sunday and reported for duty on Tuesday. The employee did not claim per diem for Sunday, which implied that the delay was for personal reasons. GAO held that, since the agency prepared a constructive travel schedule and the employee offered no evidence questioning the propriety of that schedule, the agency would be acting within its discretion to charge the employee annual leave for the Tuesday in question.