Propriety of Agency Refusal To Grant Home Leave

An advance decision was requested by the Department of Justice concerning whether the extension of an employee's overseas tour of duty after the employee had been denied home leave may serve as a basis to substitute home leave for annual leave taken after the request for home leave had been denied. GAO was also asked to determine whether the Department could pay travel expenses in connection with the annual leave taken. An employee of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was assigned overseas duty from February 1968 to November 1978. At his request, and with the expressed understanding that no further extension would be granted, the employee's tour of duty was extended until November 1979. In spite of this, in June 1979, the employee requested a further extension of his tour of duty and at the same time asked to be granted home leave for the period from July 1979 to September 1979. Both requests were denied. The employee lodged an appeal and agreed to forego home leave in the event of an extension of his tour of duty. INS agreed to a final extension of the employee's tour of duty to November 1979. After the extension was granted, the employee asked that some annual leave he had taken in the interim be recredited to his annual leave account and that his absence for that period be charged against the home leave balance he had accrued while stationed overseas. INS refused stating that, in its opinion, such a change would be inappropriate. GAO reviewed the regulations pertaining to home leave and found that the granting of home leave was within an agency's discretion. GAO concluded that, under the circumstances, the INS refusal to grant home leave was proper and home leave may not be substituted for annual leave taken even though the agency subsequently agreed to the employee's request to extend his overseas tour of duty for an additional year. It was further concluded that the travel expenses incurred in connection with the annual leave taken may not be paid.