10.206—May an employee who uses leave after an injury later decide to use COP instead?
On Form CA-1, an employee may elect to use accumulated sick or annual leave, or leave advanced by the agency, instead of electing COP. The employee can change the election between leave and COP for prospective periods at any point while eligibility for COP remains. The employee may also change the election for past periods and request COP in lieu of leave already taken for the same period. In either situation, the following provisions apply:
(a)
The request must be made to the employer within one year of the date the leave was used or the date of the written approval of the claim by OWCP (if written approval is issued), whichever is later.
(b)
Where the employee is otherwise eligible, the agency shall restore leave taken in lieu of any of the 45 COP days. Where any of the 45 COP days remain unused, the agency shall continue pay prospectively.
(c)
The use of leave may not be used to delay or extend the 45-day COP period or to otherwise affect the time limitation as provided by 5 U.S.C. 8117. Therefore, any leave used during the period of eligibility counts towards the 45-day maximum entitlement to COP.