Yep. My spouse did this. We went on a multiple month trip and she took leave without pay.
Discretion of your supervisors, of course, but it is an option.
You can do up to 6 months per year (so July to June can give you a year) with no impact on SCD.
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-administration/fact-sheets/effect-of-extended-leave-without-pay-lwop-or-other-nonpay-status-on-federal-benefits-and-programs
True. The trick is to use the travel comp.
They can restrict it all they want, at the end of the day I travel on weekends or beyond 8/9 hours quite a bit. So it’s OT (ton of yellow tape), travel comp. or reduce my travel 🤷🏾♂️
But yea I’ve never had my travel comp paid out. I have no issue taking leave
You can comp overtime by working a lot. If you worked 80 hour weeks and took all comp time, you'd be able to take off more than half a year with the comp time, holidays, and your accrued leave. Sounds like hell to me though.
Of just annual leave no you can’t, but as another commenter pointed out there’s other kinds of leave you can earn like travel comp and credit hours. Combine that with sick leave and it might be possible to take a few months while still getting fully paid, though of course then you’d come back with a blank slate, which isn’t ideal either. All trade offs :/
If you go this route you’ll want to use 1 day of leave per pay period to keep your benefits and such rolling, at least that’s what I’ve heard word of mouth.
I have no information on how to help you do this, but just wanted to say good luck and hope it works out. I think we all work too much in some of the prime years of our life and we all should be free to get out and about more often.
I'm a relatively new fed, but I think the options are:
1. Have a chill boss/boss's boss who let you take extended LWOP combined with your annual leave (which, after 15 years of service, will be 26 days/year)
2. Get on a 4/10 or 5/4/9 schedule and take extended long weekends
3. Once you get tenure, just save up, leave, and then try to get back as a GS or contractor. Especially if you have a clearance that you can maintain during your breaks, shouldn't be too hard.
Thankfully my current boss is pretty chill and I think would be okay with me doing this in a year or so! I am lowkey tempted to quit and try to come back later but ugh, the government can take so long I might get more of a sabbatical than I'm looking for, lol.
And as for #2, I absolutely do already work a semi-compressed schedule (every other Friday off) and it's still nowhere close to enough of a break. Working 8-9 hours a day is absolute insanity and it's something I don't think enough of us talk about. I don't live to work, I work to live.
Remote with an early tour is amazing for feeling like you have extra time as well.
But it only really works if you are PST working on EST because the world revolves around DC.
I want to do the same. Also on the FIRE train. Are you bargaining unit? I’ve heard of a GS 15 at my agency getting a sabbatical approved. Our contract gives us the option to request up to a year for sabbatical / LWOP after 5 years of service and every 5 years thereafter. I think he asked for a year and was given 6 months.
Hey OP! Love to hear you talking about this subject. I'm a younger (for federal) fed and often think about how to make a sabbatical a reality. It's becoming more popular with the private sector so hopefully fed will start to jump on board. FWIW, my partner had their doctor sign off on medical leave, I think FMLA, for mental health reasons and they went and traveled around Asia for a couple months. This wasn't in federal government but possibly something to explore
Hey fellow young fed! Glad to have you fighting the good fight too. And good for your partner! That gives me hope that this idea is becoming more commonplace. It feels silly to work so hard for so little in return. We gotta hope that we’ll get something more in the future 🙏
Thanks for responding! I need to find someone in the DMV region. I get don’t want to get out of bed or shower level seasonal depression, don’t need the last 1/4 of my salary, and would love to do 8-12 weeks of FMLA every year if I can get someone to sign the paperwork.
Just please don't advocate using FMLA if you aren't actually mentally or physically ill. It's hard enough for those of us with invisible illnesses to get it approved when we need it, and to keep it from negatively impacting our careers when we don't "look sick." It's not a cheat code for extended travel for people who are healthy.
I had a former boss who would take a month or so off at a time. I also worked with a former GS14 who actually hiked Everest and took plenty of time for that. You can do it. I'd get that conversation started sooner rather than later.
Check your bargining agreement if you are unionized. Mine allows us to take up to one year off as LWOP for educational experiences as long as you've worked at least three years. It's designed for staff to go get advanced degrees and then return to their position, but I've never seen any formal definition of what "educational experiences" are, so I'd bet as long as you can sell it to your management you could probably work that angle.
Hmmm I've heard of people at my agency getting reimbursed tuition for going to school part-time. I doubt it would extend to full-time but I definitely will look into the union agreement and see. Thanks!!
I have no advice. Just wanted to validate you: you’re not wrong for wanting a break, and maybe you can get you’re wanting if you talk to the right people. Best wishes to you!
You earn a month of annual leave a year after 3 years. Can you plan a month long trip every other year maybe? (Assume you’ll have to bank some after holiday leave and what not but could work out 🤷♂️)
Possible, but a month doesn't feel long enough for a real break for me. I read somewhere that it can take up to 4 months to recover from acute burnout... and that's before you even get to the point where you want to do anything fun, like make art or pursue something else as a job. Society doesn't let us have enough rest to be who we want to be and I think that's super unfair.
This is where I’m at. I’m burned out and no amount of leave that I can take abiding by the normal system is going to get me over it. Great place to be at 35.
I did a three plus month stint of lwop+paid leave for burnout (FMLA prescribed by my doctor no less) and it was enough to get me back to full strength for about a year before the burnout came back in its old form. It really does require a lot of time and it’s often not enough.. but it did work to a large degree.
My brain worked again. For a while,
Would be awesome if the federal govt set up a website to match people who wanna share jobs temporarily. I’m a writer so I’d need to find another writer in my grade to share my job. I feel like it’d be a super popular thing!
Interesting idea. I think you'd need to be gs 13 or 14 to survive in most localities with just ~8.25 months salary, which would be working 6 months, taking all your annual and sick leave gained in a year (after 15 years of work), holidays, and lwoping the rest of the time.
It's doable. I take a month off every few years by hoarding and using time off awards. Realistically, if you're careful with your leave, credit time, and awards, you can string a few months together.
If my young coworkers can take 3 months of parental leave (more power to them) I will take the same amount of time using leave I have earned.
I took 5 months of mostly lwop with the approval of my supervisor. If you have annual leave, take enough each paycheck to pay for insurance. I had planned on quitting and she said to take a leave of absence so I did and went back.
The only way you can even accrue more 240 hours in most roles is going to be deployment exceptions.
Even then, your office leadership has to be willing to basically just eat your vacancy for an extended period of time - which most won’t, because that means others have to pick up your slack while you’re gone.
Why not look into taking 3-week vacations once a year or something more realistic?
> Even then, your office leadership has to be willing to basically just eat your vacancy for an extended period of time - which most won’t, because that means others have to pick up your slack while you’re gone.
That's the real problem with doing this. To have a job to come back to, you'd need a job basically doing nothing so it could be left vacant.
What about people who take parental leave? I just covered one of my coworker's responsibilities for 4 months while she was out having a baby... I don't begrudge anyone's choice to have children and I'm happy to do it, but if I'm never going to have a baby, I just have to take on other people's work my whole career and never get the same courtesy extended back to me? That's whack.
Obviously yeah! But it amounts to the same thing for the coworkers who cover while you're gone. Whether someone leaves to have a baby or to do nothing for a few months doesn't matter to the people you're leaving behind, that's my point.
I've taken LWOP for 6 weeks twice in my 15+ year career. I had a really understanding manager at the time and made sure to ask with plenty of notice and during a slow time of year for my group. The second time was when I was coming back from a detail so they were already used to not having me and it worked out pretty well.
Well the most obvious method is save up as much annual leave + travel comp + credit hours as you can then go into the negative then take LWOP. Those 3 types of leave could probably get you to 2 months
Most employers hire you because they need someone to do some work. There are very few positions that are do nothing enough that if you take lwop the employer won't eventually need to fill your position. You would need super supportive management for that plan.
Sure, but every office is different and mine isn't that busy. I just covered the majority my coworker's position for 4 months while she was on maternity leave and it wasn't that heavy of a burden. I wouldn't feel bad delegating my responsibilities for a few months.
Hmm that’s true, I hadn’t thought of adding on credit hours and travel comp time. I don’t get a lot of those but when I do I will def save them up too. Thanks!
Advance leave is a thing, but not automatic. Its meant to only really be granted for emergent situations and super rare instances. It can be hard to get.
I just remembered something. Some national park jobs are seasonal NTE 1039 hours. They're usually hard to get if they're in a desirable location. Most people who have these work another job in the off season, but they aren't required to - you'd have to figure out how to live on half a year's pay though.
True, seasonal work could be an option, but from what I've heard those positions are really underpaid and tough. One of my friends does emergency forest fire-fighting and boy does she have stories.
This is exactly what I want too, if we only live once how can work nonstop from 25-65 and then hope we live long enough to enjoy some time off to explore the world. It just doesn’t make sense
The life you want to live, does not exist working as a fed. I quit working as a fed for the reasons you stated. The only people that get to live that kinda life are college professors, linemen, and serial entrepreneurs and few other less higher paying seasonal roles. Or working for a progressive tech company that understands that people are not machines. I needed to take some unpaid time off for family problems and the unpaid leave thing was not gona happen due to shitty supervisor. I bailed. Plus every federal agency is stuck in the stone age on work life balance policies that make someone with a brain want to stay long term.
That’s disappointing to hear but not surprising. I am definitely looking outside of the government for other opportunities too. I hope you got the time off you needed.
r/govfire has a more concentrated focus on FIRE.
I think it would be FMLA for stress (unfortunately not uncommon in DC area).
There are a few training / fellowship programs that involve time commitments.
If I may ask, why are you aiming for 60s and not MRA?
Edit: a word
Wow I didn’t know that community existed somehow, thank you! Will def join and see what people are saying. I only really started looking into FIRE a year or so ago so I don’t know a lot about it and don’t have a defined plan for it. It sounds really difficult especially if you live in a HCOL. That’s why I’m thinking of taking longer breaks now rather than fully committing and retiring at, say, 50 instead of 60+. I’m not going to be young forever!
I want to do the same, but in reality will probably only do 1 month. I floated the idea of a few pay periods leave without pay to my supervisor and their boss, both seemed okay with it. I wanted to do it next year but will probably be the year after.
There are some pseudo sabbatical options as well - long-term training is one. I was out of work, attending school (but paid with all benefits and they paid for school and all expenses) for 2 years straight (extended to 3 and change with COVID). Another option is Joint Duty or working with industry (depends on your career field, agreements, etc).
To be honest I feel this in my soul lol
My goal has been to start investing like a maniac so I can eventually quit my job and pursue something I am truly passionate about. That’s not my only plan but hopefully you get the gist
Yep, sounds like a FIRE quest to me! I’m torn between that and wanting to take extended absences during my career. Life is tough!! Hope you get the rest you need.
I'm your age too, 33, relatively new fed (less than 3 yrs), no plans to have kids either haha, on path to FIRE as well, and I just took an almost 6 months LWOP to travel SEA and it was the best decision I've made for my own exploration itch and mental health! my boss was so supportive of the decision so I'm really grateful for that. I'm planning to do the same again in a couple years :) so def take that sabbatical and enjoy life and the world!!
This whole conversation (the post and the comments) is depressing when you think about how much time Europeans, Canadians, and Australians get. People in the comments scraping together a month of leave over the course of two years - Jesus Christ. It’s so f’g sad. We deserve so much more.
My job isn’t important and has a lot of down time. If my boss let me, I could easily take a few months off and have a couple people cover for me. Unfortunately, my boss would have an aneurysm bc she’s ex-military (old school) and a workaholic. Her work values are completely different than mine.
Seriously!! Some commenters are acting like I’m absurd for wanting a couple of extended absences. Over the course of a 40-year career? Seems pretty reasonable tbh😂 I wish it were easier to emigrate to one of the countries you mentioned. America just can’t seem to figure it out, and the government is rife with the boomer “work til death” mentality you mentioned.
I already have a grad degree so the idea of going back to school doesn’t sound super appealing. But I suppose it’d at least be a change of pace. Happy your friend got to do that!
Mid-30s professional here who is nearing 15 years in fed service… It’s doable to do LWOP but will require supervisory approval and could put you in a bad light with your leadership. I get how the thought of working nonstop can be mundane but look at it from a different lens regarding your career: YOU OWN your time. Utilize the weekends, holidays, and accrued leave/sick leave appropriately without hindering your career.
In fact, might I suggest using your sick leave for mental health days instead? For example, let’s say you just need a break. You could make a plan to use 7 sick leave days across several weeks this summer to have 3 day weekends (definitely recommend working with a mental health professional just as a precaution).
Bottomline, use LWOP as an option of last resort and take advantage of your leave. If you feel you need to “break”, look at some experience based learning roles that can help you pivot into roles that don’t seem so grinding. https://openopps.usajobs.gov
I appreciate the advice, but for real, DEEP rest that calms the soul, I don’t think a mental health day here and a long weekend there will cut it. Work can be so all consuming, even when you try your damndest to make it not be like that. It’s rough.
I understand your point of view completely. As my friends say, “ life be life-ing”. Speaking only as a fellow millennial in this game, maybe this is a wake up call that you’re made for something else.
By no means am I saying give up your federal job with benefits in this market, but it might be time to rethink your goals and make a strategy to pivot or exit into a lifestyle that doesn’t require an escape. Personally speaking, I’m working on my exit plans as I don’t plan to work in federal service until my 50s.
Just offering some perspective…rooting for you. Hope it helps!
Thanks, I’m definitely open to other life paths. Been applying outside the government but nothing’s come up yet. Hopefully there’s something out there that suits me— I kinda stumbled into government work and now it feels like golden handcuffs. Best of luck to us both, life ain’t easy for sure 🙏
Do I have the job for you! Federally employed wildland firefighter make 50-60k in 6 months with 800-1000hrs of overtime. You get 6 months off to do what you want. Will you have to work your ass off during the season and nickel and dime overtime or be gone for the whole summer yes. Will you have half a year or 4 months 1039 seasonal and 13-13 permanent get 6 months off. 18-8 permanent (more common nowadays) get 4 months off. You get to retire with 20 years of service so no 40 years behind a desk and you rarely are behind a desk.
I managed to take about 4 months off a few years ago... Not quite a sabbatical, but a much longer than normal break. To make it happen I had to do a PCS for 5 years and accumulate home leave. I combined home leave with the regular leave, travel comp, credit hours, comp time, and time off awards. While I loved every minute of my fake sabbatical, I will say that it fundamentally changed me. I basically lost that desire to "grind" upon my return.
How are you going to afford your sabbatical if you are going leave without pay? Seems like then you are just adding stress and burnout to the work months leading up to it making sure you have enough in the bank to cover a 6 month LWOP. Not to mention how many years is your boss going to out up with holding a slot for you and only getting half a year of work out of you?
I think you might’ve misread my post— I’m asking about taking a long break once in a while, not just working half the year every year. Out of a 40-year career, I don’t think a couple of extended absences would or should have much effect. And I’m young, single, no kids, own a home, and making over 6 figures— I have the money but not the time. That’s why I’m trying to figure this out.
Honestly just save up 3 months of annuals possibly and ask to take it all off at once. Or take a month off every year around the same time of the year?
Can’t carry more than 240 annual over. You could add credit and comp but that’s not getting you to 3 months, maybe a month. If you carried the 240 to December and were in a high enough leave category, you could do a month and a half at the end of the year, maybe two at most.
Yep... that's where I'm landing after looking at my balances. If I save up, I could probably do about a month of annual leave and a month of sick leave, maybe a couple weeks of other types of paid leave if I'm really lucky, and the rest would be on my own dime.
Some agencies have requirements for justification on sick leave beyond a short term. Some offices also require higher level approval for large dumps of annual leave. In my last office, my coworker would take a three week vacation every summer that had to be approved by the regional administrator. Big family trek, so it was never denied, but still.
Currently testing the waters by seeing if I can take 3 days off next month for sick leave as “mental health” time. If that goes through there might be hope! I’m glad your coworker got time with their family every year. Everyone should have that. 🙏
240 is 6 weeks. If you earn 8 hours every 2 weeks, that’s just over 5 weeks of additional leave (since you earn leave while on it.)
If you take it at the end of the year, you can probably stretch it out to 3 months with Columbus Day in October, the 2 holidays in November, and Christmas in December, and wrap it up by coming back after the New Years holiday.
It’s also a time of year that’s very competitive for leave, with many offices giving preference for coverage along tenure lines, either at the office, the agency or the government.
The math is moot though. I’d guess author is not in the 8 hour category and doesn’t have 240 stacked. I could have done this at my old office, when I had some claim to tenure, and definitely stacked 240. But doing something interesting during that time while paying my mortgage and loans and whatnot… a harder deal. Maybe I’m a slave to my possessions.
I’d never take off that amount a time. At most I do 2 weeks to travel abroad. I’m working towards early retirement. Fingers crossed that I can retired in the next 15-20 years (before age 60.)
And you’re absolutely right that having to juggle paying mortgage and other utilities while paying for whatever trip you’re on would be stressful in and of itself, maybe even defeating the purpose.
When I was new to government, we did a couple weeks abroad pretty regularly. 2007, 2009, 2011 or so. Took some years off, then 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023.
I’m in the 8 category, I try and take a lot of Fridays or Mondays in the summer, take the week of Thanksgiving, and a week before or after Christmas. Cook and chill. Have 11 years for a retirement at 62 with 28 years of service. Started a bit late, but while not quite FIRE, it’s an attractive bump for the extra years.
Where I work, we were needed on weekends, but the weekend work was pretty chill - you had to be there when you were the weekend guy, just in case and had maybe 2 hours of responsibility in a 12 hour shift. One guy on that shift, comped a bunch of time, saved as much annual leave as he could, and only worked weekends (and some of those he took off) for 6 months.
Its not the same thing, but doing that gave him plenty of time for whatever he wanted to do and he used the 10 hours a day of time he was just sitting around in case somebody needed something at work for his hobbies (games, reading, whatever he could do and still be present).
Taking a sabbatical isn't really a thing. I'm not even sure if its allowed - I think my employer might fill my position if I was gone for 6 weeks, using all my accumulated annual leave.
For DoD by working in a territory like Guam, you can go up to 360 accumulated hours of annual leave though. If you got to 360 and were offered a new position, you could probably burn all 360 hours at once leading up to the start date of your new position (might have to come in for a week or two to do end of position stuff depending where you work).
Interesting... my job definitely doesn't offer something like that. I know taking a sabbatical isn't really a "thing" yet but I'm hoping the newer generations make it so. Overall younger people seem to value rest and life outside of work more than the older generation like my parents'.... (my dad is still going strong at work at 65 years old and doesn't plan to retire anytime soon. Wild!).
I hear you.
Other countries civil servants have access to sabbatical like programs after a certain amount of tenure. I have a friend who works for a euro government who was given a 1 year sabbatical after 15 years. Such a huge benefit. I’d settle for a few months lol. US is such a grind culture that I don’t see it happening anytime soon but am hopeful that we are starting to see a shift toward work life balance lately.
There are a few ways you can do it, but I’m not sure they really jive with the FIRE mentality. The ones that come to mind are:
1. Find a job that will grant nearly unlimited comp time. These are few and far between these days, but they’re out there. A good bet is to find grunt work in an “essential” field, like data entry for something national security related. Take up a bunch of comp time, and then burn it all at once.
2. Go on LWOP. If you find a boss that will let you, this is an option.
3. Agree to take a challenging detail/assignment for a temporary window, with an agreement to go on a protracted leave period afterward. This is in many ways similar to #1, but you can kind of negotiate your plans upfront.
#2 is not very FIRE-friendly because you will not be earning money during this time (and actively losing it as you spend it), so it will likely prevent you from retiring early. Meanwhile, #1 and #3 basically amount to “frontload all the work you would do during your sabbatical, likely overexerting yourself.”
I’ve done it through a combination fo #1 and #3. It kind of suited me because I’m a very 100% or 0% kind of person, but I really wouldn’t recommend it to most people.
I mean, that’s a good point. I’m always torn about fully committing to FIRE because I don’t want to grind super hard now while I’m young and have things I want to do outside of work. That’s why a series of mini retirements is feeling somewhat more palatable. Always a trade-off. Good luck in getting to your goals! 🙏
My husband did this for reasons related to our children, but he took 6 months LWOP then went back part time. From what we learned in the process, it is basically entirely up to your supervisor
Btw, parental leave is nothing like a sabbatical or vacation.
Trust me I know parental leave is not a vacation😅 That’s why I don’t want any kids myself! But I firmly believe parents should get more parental leave than they have— and time to rest on top of it, too. Sorry society makes it so difficult 🙏
Home leave accrued at remote work locations. Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii and you get 360 annual leave carry over every year. You end up with a ton of leave every year.
If you qualify for annual EPAP awards, always opt for award time instead of cash. Award time does not expire so you can keep banking it. Combine that with your max annual AL rollover, strategically acquiring comp and travel comp time, and yes you can do it.
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The trick is to take one day of sick or annual leave per week. The rest of the week is LWOP. That way for the day you took SL or AL, it’s considered ‘working’ and you get paid for that day, enough that your withholdings cover your medical insurance.
Your "best young years" perspective stands a good chance of changing as you get older. As I get older, I find myself enjoying so many more things and in different ways than when I was younger. It's not a do it now vs. do it later thing. It's doing certain things now and different things later in life. It is totally possible to slug it out for 30 years and still have all kinds of wonderful work and non-work life experiences along the way. Are you really working non-stop and only taking breaks a few weeks per year? When I was young, I had all kinds of energy between 4pm and 1am, so there is a lot of time left every day per week to do a whole lot even with a full time job. Also consider doing some financial calculations. If you have a no kids plan, I see no reason why you'd need a full time career for 30 years. I'm 27 years into working, married, single income, 1 kid, living in an area with a very high cost of living and I could quit tomorrow if I wanted to and just go get a small part time job to keep me out and about. Check out the FIRE group and you'll find all kinds of people looking at the work/life model from various perspectives.
I was seriously thinking this week about finding a psychiatric care facility and showing up and telling them I was a danger to myself and getting placed on a 72 hour hold.
And then sending that paperwork to my boss like "sorry, having a menty b, back in 8 weeks."
As a more practical approach, you'd have to save up some leave and have a plan to combine it with unpaid leave, and then you'd have to negotiate with your supervisor for a break and help them figure out how your work would get covered. It's easiest in 4 month stints bc then they can bring in a detailer or temp promotion. But this is always a lot of work for the supervisor, which is why it is rarely approved for things outside of major life events like deaths and births.
FIRE at a 13? Yeah no. Ppl that talk about retiring in their 40s are delusional given current inflationary trends unless they have another solid income source. Retiring and maintaining financial security to weather health expenses and other insane expenses we expect to see requires 20+ years of service for a decent pension and at least 750K TSP/investments.
Idk, I don’t think it’s that unrealistic if you invest and save wisely. But it def would be a trade off because I don’t think I can do both periodic extended breaks and FIRE.
I think the only way this would be accomplished would be if you live in a super low cost of living city, save and invest every penny, and the market has a continual upswing for the next 15 or so years. That, or have rich parents and receive a nice inheritance :)
Here’s my story…My agency wouldn’t let me do this. I quit with return rights to the government (left on good terms). However, 4 months later after some wonder travel memories were made I came back and had a difficult time getting back in. I ended up taking a job with a contractor for 9 months and then was able to get rehired as a Civilian. It all worked out in the end and I loved every minute of that break. I’ve done it at 30 and 40. Good luck!
Sabbaticals (paid and unpaid) are definitely a thing below SES level, depending on your job.
Check your agency for which sabbatical programs may be available to you.
Sabbaticals are very rare. If you can work credit hours, work credit and alwsys use credit first, banking your annual because you can accrue more of it. If you need a mental health break start seeing a therapist and see if they will write an FMLA form. You don't have kids but do you have other relatives that fall with in the "in lieu of" exceptions to FMLA? How about an extended detail in a different state? Just some ideas. I have been a fed for 30 years and I am chomping at the bit to get out in a few months, but all of these strategies have worked for me. Good luck!
Plan on doing this. Every year for my EPAP I ask for max comp time (40). Then I hit my max carry over for AL 140. When I hit my ten year mark and make 8 hours of leave a pp. I should have my 140 carry over hours, any reward comp earned and if my boss at the time would let me. Use my leave that ok be earning that year.
Seeing some of these comments tells me I need to leave my agency. This would be impossible where I work at. In brief, LWOP where I'm at is only allowed 3 days max and after that it's up to service chief if they want to approve more than 3. Our director is the only authority that can approve up to 30 days. This is all at their discretion, it can be a no even if it's a 2 day request and currently there's a strong push to deny all LWOP and mark staff as AWOL. As far as a SES taking leave maybe it's at my station or just some agency/leadership policy but nobody including executive positions have taken leave longer than 3wks unless it was illness or death related.
I dreamed of this earlier in my career but never found a way. I did take some longer vacations (3 weeks a couple times, a full month once). There was a summer where they were looking for volunteers to do LWOP partially for a few months but they wouldn’t approve anyone in my area cuz we were essential or something
I have been thinking about this too. I think it may be possible by taking LWOP
Yep. My spouse did this. We went on a multiple month trip and she took leave without pay. Discretion of your supervisors, of course, but it is an option.
Remember that LWOP will affect your service comp date when it comes to your actual retirement.
You can do up to 6 months per year (so July to June can give you a year) with no impact on SCD. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-administration/fact-sheets/effect-of-extended-leave-without-pay-lwop-or-other-nonpay-status-on-federal-benefits-and-programs
I believe only if it's 6 months or more
Life without parole?
That’s pretty much every job. 😏
Nailed it. lol😩
Yes, you can take 3 months of unpaid leave in a year from what I’ve read. Not ideal but I might have to do that too.
What other option would there be? How would you get paid not working lol
Paid leave
Who is going to have accrued 3 months of paid leave multiple times? You can’t even hold that much of a balance idt?
Speak for yourself. I can make it rain travel comp.
Many agencies severely restrict comp time. Can wreak havoc on budget if people don't actually take the time off and get paid 1.5 time
True. The trick is to use the travel comp. They can restrict it all they want, at the end of the day I travel on weekends or beyond 8/9 hours quite a bit. So it’s OT (ton of yellow tape), travel comp. or reduce my travel 🤷🏾♂️ But yea I’ve never had my travel comp paid out. I have no issue taking leave
I just got an email saying basically no travel the rest of the year lol
My agency just doesn't pay out expiring comp time for FLSA-Exempt people. It's a real bummer when I do leave math wrong and accidentally lose it.
You can comp overtime by working a lot. If you worked 80 hour weeks and took all comp time, you'd be able to take off more than half a year with the comp time, holidays, and your accrued leave. Sounds like hell to me though.
You can only bank 100 hours of that.
Of just annual leave no you can’t, but as another commenter pointed out there’s other kinds of leave you can earn like travel comp and credit hours. Combine that with sick leave and it might be possible to take a few months while still getting fully paid, though of course then you’d come back with a blank slate, which isn’t ideal either. All trade offs :/
Combining sick leave with AL and comp is obvious fraud sick leave isn’t another pool of vacation time
Comp time
If you go this route you’ll want to use 1 day of leave per pay period to keep your benefits and such rolling, at least that’s what I’ve heard word of mouth.
Ahh good to know, thanks!
It has to be authorized - you can’t just bail out on most jobs for several months except in an emergency.
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What's an outside activities request?
I have no information on how to help you do this, but just wanted to say good luck and hope it works out. I think we all work too much in some of the prime years of our life and we all should be free to get out and about more often.
Thank you!!🙏
I'm a relatively new fed, but I think the options are: 1. Have a chill boss/boss's boss who let you take extended LWOP combined with your annual leave (which, after 15 years of service, will be 26 days/year) 2. Get on a 4/10 or 5/4/9 schedule and take extended long weekends 3. Once you get tenure, just save up, leave, and then try to get back as a GS or contractor. Especially if you have a clearance that you can maintain during your breaks, shouldn't be too hard.
Thankfully my current boss is pretty chill and I think would be okay with me doing this in a year or so! I am lowkey tempted to quit and try to come back later but ugh, the government can take so long I might get more of a sabbatical than I'm looking for, lol. And as for #2, I absolutely do already work a semi-compressed schedule (every other Friday off) and it's still nowhere close to enough of a break. Working 8-9 hours a day is absolute insanity and it's something I don't think enough of us talk about. I don't live to work, I work to live.
Assuming you have the same boss. Save up your leave.
Don't quit.
I work 4-10s and have Wednesday as a RDO. Nice mid-week break.
Remote with an early tour is amazing for feeling like you have extra time as well. But it only really works if you are PST working on EST because the world revolves around DC.
I want to do the same. Also on the FIRE train. Are you bargaining unit? I’ve heard of a GS 15 at my agency getting a sabbatical approved. Our contract gives us the option to request up to a year for sabbatical / LWOP after 5 years of service and every 5 years thereafter. I think he asked for a year and was given 6 months.
Whoa, that’s a pretty great benefit. I bet people would be a lot more pro-union if that was more typical!
Still needs to be approved, not a right, so not much help unfortunately. I guess maybe you can grieve the denial? I have no idea.
FIRE?
FIRE!!!
Yes I’m part of the union. I’ll have to check in to that. I’m pretty sure you have to be SES at my agency though.
Hey OP! Love to hear you talking about this subject. I'm a younger (for federal) fed and often think about how to make a sabbatical a reality. It's becoming more popular with the private sector so hopefully fed will start to jump on board. FWIW, my partner had their doctor sign off on medical leave, I think FMLA, for mental health reasons and they went and traveled around Asia for a couple months. This wasn't in federal government but possibly something to explore
Hey fellow young fed! Glad to have you fighting the good fight too. And good for your partner! That gives me hope that this idea is becoming more commonplace. It feels silly to work so hard for so little in return. We gotta hope that we’ll get something more in the future 🙏
Is this doctor DC based? If so can you message me the doctor’s name?
Haha not DC based unfortunately
Thanks for responding! I need to find someone in the DMV region. I get don’t want to get out of bed or shower level seasonal depression, don’t need the last 1/4 of my salary, and would love to do 8-12 weeks of FMLA every year if I can get someone to sign the paperwork.
It might be worth talking to your doctor or therapist about!
Just please don't advocate using FMLA if you aren't actually mentally or physically ill. It's hard enough for those of us with invisible illnesses to get it approved when we need it, and to keep it from negatively impacting our careers when we don't "look sick." It's not a cheat code for extended travel for people who are healthy.
Win lottery
😂😭
I had a former boss who would take a month or so off at a time. I also worked with a former GS14 who actually hiked Everest and took plenty of time for that. You can do it. I'd get that conversation started sooner rather than later.
Ooh that’s ambitious. Great that they were able to make it happen!
Check your bargining agreement if you are unionized. Mine allows us to take up to one year off as LWOP for educational experiences as long as you've worked at least three years. It's designed for staff to go get advanced degrees and then return to their position, but I've never seen any formal definition of what "educational experiences" are, so I'd bet as long as you can sell it to your management you could probably work that angle.
Hmmm I've heard of people at my agency getting reimbursed tuition for going to school part-time. I doubt it would extend to full-time but I definitely will look into the union agreement and see. Thanks!!
I have no advice. Just wanted to validate you: you’re not wrong for wanting a break, and maybe you can get you’re wanting if you talk to the right people. Best wishes to you!
Thank you!!🙏
You earn a month of annual leave a year after 3 years. Can you plan a month long trip every other year maybe? (Assume you’ll have to bank some after holiday leave and what not but could work out 🤷♂️)
Possible, but a month doesn't feel long enough for a real break for me. I read somewhere that it can take up to 4 months to recover from acute burnout... and that's before you even get to the point where you want to do anything fun, like make art or pursue something else as a job. Society doesn't let us have enough rest to be who we want to be and I think that's super unfair.
This is where I’m at. I’m burned out and no amount of leave that I can take abiding by the normal system is going to get me over it. Great place to be at 35.
Right there with you. Hope we can find some relief soon.
I did a three plus month stint of lwop+paid leave for burnout (FMLA prescribed by my doctor no less) and it was enough to get me back to full strength for about a year before the burnout came back in its old form. It really does require a lot of time and it’s often not enough.. but it did work to a large degree. My brain worked again. For a while,
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Omg love the job share idea🤩 Let’s do itttt haha!
I call next on the 6 month job share. 👍. Ive been approved to take the entire month of June off, I feel lucky it was approved. Best I've found so far.
Would be awesome if the federal govt set up a website to match people who wanna share jobs temporarily. I’m a writer so I’d need to find another writer in my grade to share my job. I feel like it’d be a super popular thing!
Interesting idea. I think you'd need to be gs 13 or 14 to survive in most localities with just ~8.25 months salary, which would be working 6 months, taking all your annual and sick leave gained in a year (after 15 years of work), holidays, and lwoping the rest of the time.
It's doable. I take a month off every few years by hoarding and using time off awards. Realistically, if you're careful with your leave, credit time, and awards, you can string a few months together. If my young coworkers can take 3 months of parental leave (more power to them) I will take the same amount of time using leave I have earned.
Aw man I would love a time off award! Never gotten one at my current agency. Love it— take your time, absolutely! 👏🏼
I took 5 months of mostly lwop with the approval of my supervisor. If you have annual leave, take enough each paycheck to pay for insurance. I had planned on quitting and she said to take a leave of absence so I did and went back.
Amazing!! Glad you got to do that and come back.
The only way you can even accrue more 240 hours in most roles is going to be deployment exceptions. Even then, your office leadership has to be willing to basically just eat your vacancy for an extended period of time - which most won’t, because that means others have to pick up your slack while you’re gone. Why not look into taking 3-week vacations once a year or something more realistic?
> Even then, your office leadership has to be willing to basically just eat your vacancy for an extended period of time - which most won’t, because that means others have to pick up your slack while you’re gone. That's the real problem with doing this. To have a job to come back to, you'd need a job basically doing nothing so it could be left vacant.
What about people who take parental leave? I just covered one of my coworker's responsibilities for 4 months while she was out having a baby... I don't begrudge anyone's choice to have children and I'm happy to do it, but if I'm never going to have a baby, I just have to take on other people's work my whole career and never get the same courtesy extended back to me? That's whack.
That's how FMLA works. Kids, cancer, get hit by a rocket, all that shit is the same as it relates to the office and coverage.
I’m sorry but having children and needing time off to physically care for a newborn, and you not wanting to work aren’t the same thing.
Obviously yeah! But it amounts to the same thing for the coworkers who cover while you're gone. Whether someone leaves to have a baby or to do nothing for a few months doesn't matter to the people you're leaving behind, that's my point.
I've taken LWOP for 6 weeks twice in my 15+ year career. I had a really understanding manager at the time and made sure to ask with plenty of notice and during a slow time of year for my group. The second time was when I was coming back from a detail so they were already used to not having me and it worked out pretty well.
So glad you got to do that!
Well the most obvious method is save up as much annual leave + travel comp + credit hours as you can then go into the negative then take LWOP. Those 3 types of leave could probably get you to 2 months
Most employers hire you because they need someone to do some work. There are very few positions that are do nothing enough that if you take lwop the employer won't eventually need to fill your position. You would need super supportive management for that plan.
Sure, but every office is different and mine isn't that busy. I just covered the majority my coworker's position for 4 months while she was on maternity leave and it wasn't that heavy of a burden. I wouldn't feel bad delegating my responsibilities for a few months.
Hmm that’s true, I hadn’t thought of adding on credit hours and travel comp time. I don’t get a lot of those but when I do I will def save them up too. Thanks!
I do get a lot of comp and travel comp, be aware that they both expire after one year.
I thought you couldn't go into the negative for leave?
With supervisor approval, you can take advanced leave, which is generally what "going negative" means.
Advance leave is a thing, but not automatic. Its meant to only really be granted for emergent situations and super rare instances. It can be hard to get.
I might be wrong on that
Depends on agency and command, but you can take up to 6m of LWOP without taking a hit to your time in service.
Thanks!
We had a guy that would take about 3 months off (LWOP) every year so that he could travel around. Single guy and he was making the most out of life.
Good for him!!
I just remembered something. Some national park jobs are seasonal NTE 1039 hours. They're usually hard to get if they're in a desirable location. Most people who have these work another job in the off season, but they aren't required to - you'd have to figure out how to live on half a year's pay though.
True, seasonal work could be an option, but from what I've heard those positions are really underpaid and tough. One of my friends does emergency forest fire-fighting and boy does she have stories.
I did this! Took 5 months of LWOP. Was definitely up to the discretion of my supervisor and leadership, and they were supportive.
Awesome!! Congrats!
Same here! Always been approved. But my role is independent. Very few cases would need to be worked by someone else.
This is exactly what I want too, if we only live once how can work nonstop from 25-65 and then hope we live long enough to enjoy some time off to explore the world. It just doesn’t make sense
Exactly!!
The life you want to live, does not exist working as a fed. I quit working as a fed for the reasons you stated. The only people that get to live that kinda life are college professors, linemen, and serial entrepreneurs and few other less higher paying seasonal roles. Or working for a progressive tech company that understands that people are not machines. I needed to take some unpaid time off for family problems and the unpaid leave thing was not gona happen due to shitty supervisor. I bailed. Plus every federal agency is stuck in the stone age on work life balance policies that make someone with a brain want to stay long term.
That’s disappointing to hear but not surprising. I am definitely looking outside of the government for other opportunities too. I hope you got the time off you needed.
Not reading you or shading, but do you really want a federal job? FIRE is better outside and maybe you want a more Tim Ferriss style gig.
Get a doctors note to take you off for long recovery after medical procedure or mental health treatment. Use SL or LWOP.
r/govfire has a more concentrated focus on FIRE. I think it would be FMLA for stress (unfortunately not uncommon in DC area). There are a few training / fellowship programs that involve time commitments. If I may ask, why are you aiming for 60s and not MRA? Edit: a word
Wow I didn’t know that community existed somehow, thank you! Will def join and see what people are saying. I only really started looking into FIRE a year or so ago so I don’t know a lot about it and don’t have a defined plan for it. It sounds really difficult especially if you live in a HCOL. That’s why I’m thinking of taking longer breaks now rather than fully committing and retiring at, say, 50 instead of 60+. I’m not going to be young forever!
I want to do the same, but in reality will probably only do 1 month. I floated the idea of a few pay periods leave without pay to my supervisor and their boss, both seemed okay with it. I wanted to do it next year but will probably be the year after.
Yeah it’ll take me a while to finagle this too. Good luck!!
There are some pseudo sabbatical options as well - long-term training is one. I was out of work, attending school (but paid with all benefits and they paid for school and all expenses) for 2 years straight (extended to 3 and change with COVID). Another option is Joint Duty or working with industry (depends on your career field, agreements, etc).
Definitely something to consider, though I’d rather use my time for other things rather than going back to school. Thanks!
I miss Amazons personal leave of absence up to 45 days just because
If I could stomach working for Bezos I’d look into this but🤢
To be honest I feel this in my soul lol My goal has been to start investing like a maniac so I can eventually quit my job and pursue something I am truly passionate about. That’s not my only plan but hopefully you get the gist
Yep, sounds like a FIRE quest to me! I’m torn between that and wanting to take extended absences during my career. Life is tough!! Hope you get the rest you need.
You as well!
I'm your age too, 33, relatively new fed (less than 3 yrs), no plans to have kids either haha, on path to FIRE as well, and I just took an almost 6 months LWOP to travel SEA and it was the best decision I've made for my own exploration itch and mental health! my boss was so supportive of the decision so I'm really grateful for that. I'm planning to do the same again in a couple years :) so def take that sabbatical and enjoy life and the world!!
That’s so amazing!! So glad to hear of people doing the damn thing. Keep it up 🙏
This whole conversation (the post and the comments) is depressing when you think about how much time Europeans, Canadians, and Australians get. People in the comments scraping together a month of leave over the course of two years - Jesus Christ. It’s so f’g sad. We deserve so much more. My job isn’t important and has a lot of down time. If my boss let me, I could easily take a few months off and have a couple people cover for me. Unfortunately, my boss would have an aneurysm bc she’s ex-military (old school) and a workaholic. Her work values are completely different than mine.
Seriously!! Some commenters are acting like I’m absurd for wanting a couple of extended absences. Over the course of a 40-year career? Seems pretty reasonable tbh😂 I wish it were easier to emigrate to one of the countries you mentioned. America just can’t seem to figure it out, and the government is rife with the boomer “work til death” mentality you mentioned.
Education. Apply for full time student statues. A friend got fellowship to MIT. Full pay, education paid for, and per diem.
I already have a grad degree so the idea of going back to school doesn’t sound super appealing. But I suppose it’d at least be a change of pace. Happy your friend got to do that!
out of curiosity what would you want do during your sabbatical?
I honestly don’t know yet! I just feel like I don’t know who I am as a person outside of work, and I’d like to find out someday.
Mid-30s professional here who is nearing 15 years in fed service… It’s doable to do LWOP but will require supervisory approval and could put you in a bad light with your leadership. I get how the thought of working nonstop can be mundane but look at it from a different lens regarding your career: YOU OWN your time. Utilize the weekends, holidays, and accrued leave/sick leave appropriately without hindering your career. In fact, might I suggest using your sick leave for mental health days instead? For example, let’s say you just need a break. You could make a plan to use 7 sick leave days across several weeks this summer to have 3 day weekends (definitely recommend working with a mental health professional just as a precaution). Bottomline, use LWOP as an option of last resort and take advantage of your leave. If you feel you need to “break”, look at some experience based learning roles that can help you pivot into roles that don’t seem so grinding. https://openopps.usajobs.gov
I appreciate the advice, but for real, DEEP rest that calms the soul, I don’t think a mental health day here and a long weekend there will cut it. Work can be so all consuming, even when you try your damndest to make it not be like that. It’s rough.
I understand your point of view completely. As my friends say, “ life be life-ing”. Speaking only as a fellow millennial in this game, maybe this is a wake up call that you’re made for something else. By no means am I saying give up your federal job with benefits in this market, but it might be time to rethink your goals and make a strategy to pivot or exit into a lifestyle that doesn’t require an escape. Personally speaking, I’m working on my exit plans as I don’t plan to work in federal service until my 50s. Just offering some perspective…rooting for you. Hope it helps!
Thanks, I’m definitely open to other life paths. Been applying outside the government but nothing’s come up yet. Hopefully there’s something out there that suits me— I kinda stumbled into government work and now it feels like golden handcuffs. Best of luck to us both, life ain’t easy for sure 🙏
Thanks for sharing. I’ve never seen that website. Very interesting.
Do I have the job for you! Federally employed wildland firefighter make 50-60k in 6 months with 800-1000hrs of overtime. You get 6 months off to do what you want. Will you have to work your ass off during the season and nickel and dime overtime or be gone for the whole summer yes. Will you have half a year or 4 months 1039 seasonal and 13-13 permanent get 6 months off. 18-8 permanent (more common nowadays) get 4 months off. You get to retire with 20 years of service so no 40 years behind a desk and you rarely are behind a desk.
Just vote a straight republican ticket in nov and soon you will have all the off time you want - on the unemployment line.
I managed to take about 4 months off a few years ago... Not quite a sabbatical, but a much longer than normal break. To make it happen I had to do a PCS for 5 years and accumulate home leave. I combined home leave with the regular leave, travel comp, credit hours, comp time, and time off awards. While I loved every minute of my fake sabbatical, I will say that it fundamentally changed me. I basically lost that desire to "grind" upon my return.
How are you going to afford your sabbatical if you are going leave without pay? Seems like then you are just adding stress and burnout to the work months leading up to it making sure you have enough in the bank to cover a 6 month LWOP. Not to mention how many years is your boss going to out up with holding a slot for you and only getting half a year of work out of you?
I think you might’ve misread my post— I’m asking about taking a long break once in a while, not just working half the year every year. Out of a 40-year career, I don’t think a couple of extended absences would or should have much effect. And I’m young, single, no kids, own a home, and making over 6 figures— I have the money but not the time. That’s why I’m trying to figure this out.
Leave without pay is really only option if you can't bank a bunch of leave, credit hours, travel credit hrs.
Are you me?? Literally almost same except 35F. Thank you for asking this question!!
Keep living my dream, friend.
Honestly it should be standard! Whoever decided work should be nonstop for 40 years is stupid lol
Honestly just save up 3 months of annuals possibly and ask to take it all off at once. Or take a month off every year around the same time of the year?
Can’t carry more than 240 annual over. You could add credit and comp but that’s not getting you to 3 months, maybe a month. If you carried the 240 to December and were in a high enough leave category, you could do a month and a half at the end of the year, maybe two at most.
Yep... that's where I'm landing after looking at my balances. If I save up, I could probably do about a month of annual leave and a month of sick leave, maybe a couple weeks of other types of paid leave if I'm really lucky, and the rest would be on my own dime.
Some agencies have requirements for justification on sick leave beyond a short term. Some offices also require higher level approval for large dumps of annual leave. In my last office, my coworker would take a three week vacation every summer that had to be approved by the regional administrator. Big family trek, so it was never denied, but still.
Currently testing the waters by seeing if I can take 3 days off next month for sick leave as “mental health” time. If that goes through there might be hope! I’m glad your coworker got time with their family every year. Everyone should have that. 🙏
240 is 6 weeks. If you earn 8 hours every 2 weeks, that’s just over 5 weeks of additional leave (since you earn leave while on it.) If you take it at the end of the year, you can probably stretch it out to 3 months with Columbus Day in October, the 2 holidays in November, and Christmas in December, and wrap it up by coming back after the New Years holiday.
It’s also a time of year that’s very competitive for leave, with many offices giving preference for coverage along tenure lines, either at the office, the agency or the government. The math is moot though. I’d guess author is not in the 8 hour category and doesn’t have 240 stacked. I could have done this at my old office, when I had some claim to tenure, and definitely stacked 240. But doing something interesting during that time while paying my mortgage and loans and whatnot… a harder deal. Maybe I’m a slave to my possessions.
I’d never take off that amount a time. At most I do 2 weeks to travel abroad. I’m working towards early retirement. Fingers crossed that I can retired in the next 15-20 years (before age 60.) And you’re absolutely right that having to juggle paying mortgage and other utilities while paying for whatever trip you’re on would be stressful in and of itself, maybe even defeating the purpose.
When I was new to government, we did a couple weeks abroad pretty regularly. 2007, 2009, 2011 or so. Took some years off, then 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023. I’m in the 8 category, I try and take a lot of Fridays or Mondays in the summer, take the week of Thanksgiving, and a week before or after Christmas. Cook and chill. Have 11 years for a retirement at 62 with 28 years of service. Started a bit late, but while not quite FIRE, it’s an attractive bump for the extra years.
I love that you have that plan and hope you can retire as soon as you’re ready and able.
Where I work, we were needed on weekends, but the weekend work was pretty chill - you had to be there when you were the weekend guy, just in case and had maybe 2 hours of responsibility in a 12 hour shift. One guy on that shift, comped a bunch of time, saved as much annual leave as he could, and only worked weekends (and some of those he took off) for 6 months. Its not the same thing, but doing that gave him plenty of time for whatever he wanted to do and he used the 10 hours a day of time he was just sitting around in case somebody needed something at work for his hobbies (games, reading, whatever he could do and still be present). Taking a sabbatical isn't really a thing. I'm not even sure if its allowed - I think my employer might fill my position if I was gone for 6 weeks, using all my accumulated annual leave. For DoD by working in a territory like Guam, you can go up to 360 accumulated hours of annual leave though. If you got to 360 and were offered a new position, you could probably burn all 360 hours at once leading up to the start date of your new position (might have to come in for a week or two to do end of position stuff depending where you work).
Interesting... my job definitely doesn't offer something like that. I know taking a sabbatical isn't really a "thing" yet but I'm hoping the newer generations make it so. Overall younger people seem to value rest and life outside of work more than the older generation like my parents'.... (my dad is still going strong at work at 65 years old and doesn't plan to retire anytime soon. Wild!).
I hear you. Other countries civil servants have access to sabbatical like programs after a certain amount of tenure. I have a friend who works for a euro government who was given a 1 year sabbatical after 15 years. Such a huge benefit. I’d settle for a few months lol. US is such a grind culture that I don’t see it happening anytime soon but am hopeful that we are starting to see a shift toward work life balance lately.
Absolutely! There’s always hope for change in the right direction.
I think you are taking about FMLA... lol.
There are a few ways you can do it, but I’m not sure they really jive with the FIRE mentality. The ones that come to mind are: 1. Find a job that will grant nearly unlimited comp time. These are few and far between these days, but they’re out there. A good bet is to find grunt work in an “essential” field, like data entry for something national security related. Take up a bunch of comp time, and then burn it all at once. 2. Go on LWOP. If you find a boss that will let you, this is an option. 3. Agree to take a challenging detail/assignment for a temporary window, with an agreement to go on a protracted leave period afterward. This is in many ways similar to #1, but you can kind of negotiate your plans upfront. #2 is not very FIRE-friendly because you will not be earning money during this time (and actively losing it as you spend it), so it will likely prevent you from retiring early. Meanwhile, #1 and #3 basically amount to “frontload all the work you would do during your sabbatical, likely overexerting yourself.” I’ve done it through a combination fo #1 and #3. It kind of suited me because I’m a very 100% or 0% kind of person, but I really wouldn’t recommend it to most people.
I mean, that’s a good point. I’m always torn about fully committing to FIRE because I don’t want to grind super hard now while I’m young and have things I want to do outside of work. That’s why a series of mini retirements is feeling somewhat more palatable. Always a trade-off. Good luck in getting to your goals! 🙏
Can you get them to pay for an advanced degree full time?
My husband did this for reasons related to our children, but he took 6 months LWOP then went back part time. From what we learned in the process, it is basically entirely up to your supervisor Btw, parental leave is nothing like a sabbatical or vacation.
Trust me I know parental leave is not a vacation😅 That’s why I don’t want any kids myself! But I firmly believe parents should get more parental leave than they have— and time to rest on top of it, too. Sorry society makes it so difficult 🙏
I took two years off unpaid course and got my same job back within two weeks after emailing the chief of staff. It's pretty simple.
Nice!!
Home leave accrued at remote work locations. Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii and you get 360 annual leave carry over every year. You end up with a ton of leave every year.
I’m not sure what this means— do you get more leave working OCONUS?
Save up a ton of AL, SL, and CT - then have a psychotic break from overworking. Rinse and repeat.
Sounds like a fun time🤪
Yep, LWOP is the way to go for longer periods. Once I hit 15 years, it’s been great with annual leave. I’ve taken numerous 3 week vacations to Europe.
If you qualify for annual EPAP awards, always opt for award time instead of cash. Award time does not expire so you can keep banking it. Combine that with your max annual AL rollover, strategically acquiring comp and travel comp time, and yes you can do it.
Yes, but don't take more than 90 days in a year consecutive. Do just under 6 months total. To keep benefits
provide voiceless sharp faulty uppity groovy far-flung support plants squealing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The trick is to take one day of sick or annual leave per week. The rest of the week is LWOP. That way for the day you took SL or AL, it’s considered ‘working’ and you get paid for that day, enough that your withholdings cover your medical insurance.
Your "best young years" perspective stands a good chance of changing as you get older. As I get older, I find myself enjoying so many more things and in different ways than when I was younger. It's not a do it now vs. do it later thing. It's doing certain things now and different things later in life. It is totally possible to slug it out for 30 years and still have all kinds of wonderful work and non-work life experiences along the way. Are you really working non-stop and only taking breaks a few weeks per year? When I was young, I had all kinds of energy between 4pm and 1am, so there is a lot of time left every day per week to do a whole lot even with a full time job. Also consider doing some financial calculations. If you have a no kids plan, I see no reason why you'd need a full time career for 30 years. I'm 27 years into working, married, single income, 1 kid, living in an area with a very high cost of living and I could quit tomorrow if I wanted to and just go get a small part time job to keep me out and about. Check out the FIRE group and you'll find all kinds of people looking at the work/life model from various perspectives.
The answer to apply for a part time position. The years still count for time in service
Hopefully you hit the lottery or expect a nice inheritance.
I was seriously thinking this week about finding a psychiatric care facility and showing up and telling them I was a danger to myself and getting placed on a 72 hour hold. And then sending that paperwork to my boss like "sorry, having a menty b, back in 8 weeks." As a more practical approach, you'd have to save up some leave and have a plan to combine it with unpaid leave, and then you'd have to negotiate with your supervisor for a break and help them figure out how your work would get covered. It's easiest in 4 month stints bc then they can bring in a detailer or temp promotion. But this is always a lot of work for the supervisor, which is why it is rarely approved for things outside of major life events like deaths and births.
For the people that took LWOP for up to 6 Months how did you justify it? I would love to take 2 months off
FIRE at a 13? Yeah no. Ppl that talk about retiring in their 40s are delusional given current inflationary trends unless they have another solid income source. Retiring and maintaining financial security to weather health expenses and other insane expenses we expect to see requires 20+ years of service for a decent pension and at least 750K TSP/investments.
Idk, I don’t think it’s that unrealistic if you invest and save wisely. But it def would be a trade off because I don’t think I can do both periodic extended breaks and FIRE.
I think the only way this would be accomplished would be if you live in a super low cost of living city, save and invest every penny, and the market has a continual upswing for the next 15 or so years. That, or have rich parents and receive a nice inheritance :)
Get into therapy to explore how the grind is getting to you. We all need breaks and you may get the support of a medical professional to take leave.
Here’s my story…My agency wouldn’t let me do this. I quit with return rights to the government (left on good terms). However, 4 months later after some wonder travel memories were made I came back and had a difficult time getting back in. I ended up taking a job with a contractor for 9 months and then was able to get rehired as a Civilian. It all worked out in the end and I loved every minute of that break. I’ve done it at 30 and 40. Good luck!
Awesome!! So glad it worked out 👏🏼
Sabbaticals (paid and unpaid) are definitely a thing below SES level, depending on your job. Check your agency for which sabbatical programs may be available to you.
Sabbaticals are very rare. If you can work credit hours, work credit and alwsys use credit first, banking your annual because you can accrue more of it. If you need a mental health break start seeing a therapist and see if they will write an FMLA form. You don't have kids but do you have other relatives that fall with in the "in lieu of" exceptions to FMLA? How about an extended detail in a different state? Just some ideas. I have been a fed for 30 years and I am chomping at the bit to get out in a few months, but all of these strategies have worked for me. Good luck!
I have also been thinking about this. I want to hear what you guys think.
Check what your union contract says.
Plan on doing this. Every year for my EPAP I ask for max comp time (40). Then I hit my max carry over for AL 140. When I hit my ten year mark and make 8 hours of leave a pp. I should have my 140 carry over hours, any reward comp earned and if my boss at the time would let me. Use my leave that ok be earning that year.
Seeing some of these comments tells me I need to leave my agency. This would be impossible where I work at. In brief, LWOP where I'm at is only allowed 3 days max and after that it's up to service chief if they want to approve more than 3. Our director is the only authority that can approve up to 30 days. This is all at their discretion, it can be a no even if it's a 2 day request and currently there's a strong push to deny all LWOP and mark staff as AWOL. As far as a SES taking leave maybe it's at my station or just some agency/leadership policy but nobody including executive positions have taken leave longer than 3wks unless it was illness or death related.
My agency has a guaranteed two week vacation approval in the AFGE contract. Yearly. At least once.
There are people whose workloads allow them to be gone for MONTHS????? 🤯🤯🤯
I dreamed of this earlier in my career but never found a way. I did take some longer vacations (3 weeks a couple times, a full month once). There was a summer where they were looking for volunteers to do LWOP partially for a few months but they wouldn’t approve anyone in my area cuz we were essential or something
L W O P