Federal Use-or-Lose Leave 2026: Schedule It by Saturday, Nov. 28

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lists Saturday, Nov. 28, 2026 as the deadline to schedule “use or lose” annual leave in the 2026 leave year, according to its leave year table. The leave year ends Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027. Below are the dates for 2026 and 2027, the carryover ceilings OPM publishes, a worked example with a made-up balance, and a one-page printable.

This is general information, not personal advice. Confirm your own dates and balance with your agency’s payroll office.

Federal leave year dates for 2026 and 2027

OPM’s “Leave Year Beginning and Ending Dates” fact sheet gives the 2026 and 2027 rows below. We added the weekdays.

Leave year	Begins	Ends	Deadline to schedule use-or-lose leave
2026	Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026	Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027	Saturday, Nov. 28, 2026
2027	Sunday, Jan. 10, 2027	Saturday, Jan. 8, 2028	Saturday, Nov. 27, 2027

OPM adds a caution: some agency payroll systems use a different pay period schedule, and employees should contact their agencies to verify the beginning and ending dates of a particular leave year. For the pay dates themselves, see our federal pay period calendar for 2027.

How many annual leave days can federal employees carry over?

OPM’s “Annual Leave” fact sheet sets a ceiling on the balance that carries into the next leave year. Anything above it is the “use or lose” amount.

Employee group	Carryover ceiling (OPM)	In hours at 8 hours a day (our conversion)
Stationed in the United States	30 days	240 hours
Stationed overseas	45 days	360 hours
Senior Executive Service (SES), Senior-Level and Scientific and Professional employees	90 days	720 hours

The 30-day figure matches Title 5 of the U.S. Code, section 6304, which says “not more than 30 days” of annual leave may be carried over, with exceptions set out in the statute. The hours column is our arithmetic, not an OPM figure. Part-time and other work schedules are not covered by that conversion.

How much leave would you need to schedule? A worked example

Here is a made-up case, not anyone’s real balance. Suppose an employee stationed in the United States expects 270 hours of annual leave at the end of the 2026 leave year.

1. The ceiling is 30 days, or 240 hours at 8 hours a day.
2. 270 minus 240 leaves 30 hours above the ceiling.
3. 30 hours is 3.75 eight-hour days, so the employee would plan on at least four days of leave in the remaining weeks.
4. Those days need to be scheduled in writing by Saturday, Nov. 28, 2026, and taken before the leave year ends on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027.

The example assumes a balance of 270 hours. Your agency can confirm the real number.

Can forfeited annual leave be restored?

In limited cases. OPM’s annual leave fact sheet names an exigency of the public business or sickness of the employee, plus administrative error. The statute words the first two as “exigencies of the public business when the annual leave was scheduled in advance” and “sickness of the employee when the annual leave was scheduled in advance.”

OPM’s leave year page ties that to the deadline: forfeited leave may be restored only if it “was scheduled in writing before the start of the third biweekly pay period prior to the end of the leave year.” That is the reason the November date matters. Whether a particular request qualifies is a decision for your agency.

Use-or-lose leave checklist and printable

Print the one-page sheet, which lists the Nov. 28, 2026 deadline, the leave year dates and tick boxes. It also marks the 2027 deadline, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2027. Mark Saturday, Nov. 28 on a November 2026 calendar and the end of the leave year, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027, on a January 2027 calendar. Open-season dates for health plans are in our federal benefits open season story, and the holidays that can fit into a leave plan are in the 2027 federal holidays list.