Rules change for Soldiers’ leave and earnings

Photo By Emily Strickland | One scenario that Soldiers who carried leave from FY20 may experience.  

HUNTSVILLE, AL, UNITED STATES

06.16.2021

Story by Emily Strickland 

U.S. Army Garrison - Redstone Arsenal

COVID-19 brought about a laundry list of changes when it comes to the way organizations around the world do business, and the Army is no exception. Capt. Hunter Wilson is passionate about making sure Soldiers on Redstone Arsenal understand the unique changes that they may be seeing on Leave and Earning Statements in fiscal year 2021.

Wilson said the changes began in fall 2020, when the Army announced that Soldiers would be allowed to carry over extra leave designated for fiscal 2020. In a typical year, a Soldier can carry over as many as 60 days of leave from one fiscal year to another; the policy change allowed Soldiers to carry as many as 120 days from FY ‘20, which encompasses the period from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020, to FY ‘21 (Oct. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021).

Those extra days, or any days beyond the 60 days Soldiers may carry over in any other year, become part of a special category called Special Leave Accrual, or SLA. Those days are protected until the end of FY ‘23, so Soldiers who carry these days over have the opportunity to use them until Sept. 30, 2023.

The confusion, Wilson said, arises from leave accrued during FY ‘21. Soldiers accrue leave at a rate of 2.5 days/month and spend leave on a last in/first out basis. Therefore, if a Soldier decides to take leave, he or she must spend the most recently accrued leave first. Because of the monthly accrual and the last in/first out leave structure, Soldiers who carried over leave from FY ‘20 are faced with potentially losing the 30 days of leave they will automatically accrue in FY ‘21 if they do not spend it at the right time.

To complicate matters further, LESs have not been updating properly for Soldiers who carried over extra leave from FY ‘20, so Soldiers cannot rely on the information presented in their LES as they try to plan their leave.

Wilson has taken a hands-on approach to helping Soldiers in his company untangle the complex issue. As a company commander, Wilson sees the Unit Commanders Financial Report each month, which details, among other things, how much leave each Soldier in the company has. Once Wilson received last month’s UCFR, he combed through the report and identified every Soldier under his command that might be affected by the change.

Then, Wilson reached out to those Soldiers to explain how the FY ‘20 changes will affect the leave they take this year. He also created a calculator on Excel where Soldiers can input the amount of leave they have accrued and schedule the leave they plan to take this year in order to see how much of their leave may be used or lost by the end of FY ‘21. He is also working hard to get the word out about the changes to ensure that Soldiers make the most of the situation.

“It seems like there hasn’t been really a lot of discussion about this, and there’s a lot of misconceptions out there,” he said.

And the next step for Soldiers?

“If you’re a Soldier and you know that you brought more than 60 days of leave into this fiscal year, then you should really be taking a long look at your leave situation because those are the people that are in this population that could be at risk, depending on when they actually end up taking leave,” Wilson said.

Wilson also suggested reaching out to the Army Military Pay Office for Redstone Arsenal. Sonya Morris, the director of the office, said that her office is happy to help Soldiers who may fall into this category. AMPO can be reached at 876-8510.

Wilson also said he is happy to provide a link to his leave calculator to any Soldier who needs help calculating and planning their leave for FY ‘21. He can be reached at 842-7090. More information about SLA can be found at hrc.army.mil/content/Leaves%20and%20Passes.

• Date Taken: 06.16.2021
• Date Posted: 07.02.2021 11:20
• Story ID: 399465
• Location: HUNTSVILLE, AL, US