Denial of Administrative Leave for Time Spent Donating Blood

A request was made to the General Accounting Office to modify its decision in 30 Comp. Gen. 521 (1951) so as to allow the granting of administrative leave to an employee by the National Security Agency. The employee participated in a blood platelet donation program under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which required the employee to be absent from work approximately 2.5 hours per week over a period of several months. The program is allegedly structured in such a way that NIH is required to pay $25 per donation. The Civil Service Commission has not issued formal regulations on the subject of granting excused absence to employees without charge to leave (commonly called administrative leave). In the absence of a governing statute, this Office has held that, under the general guidance of the decisions of this Office, the agency to which the employee is assigned is responsible for determining the situations in which an employee may be excused from duty without charge to annual leave. 53 Comp. Gen. 582, 584 (1974); 55 Comp. Gen. 510, 512 (1975).