Veterans Page

This page is dedicated to our Veterans. Below you can find information regarding Veterans Benefits. You can also access additional information at the following link:

NALC Military Veterans Page

Wounded Warrior Leave

Employees who begin employment with the Postal Service on or after November 5, 2016, with pending disability determinations, who at any time during the first 12 months of employment receive a 30 percent or more disability rating, will be eligible for leave retroactively to the first day of employment.  Any leave without pay (LWOP) or leave used while the determination is pending will be reimbursed and replaced with Wounded Warriors Leave, as appropriate, up to the maximum number (104) of days allowed. 

It is an employee’s responsibility to notify the Postal Service of his or her eligibility before requesting Wounded Warriors Leave. Employees must provide documentation from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or on any Office of Personnel Management (OPM) certification form developed for administration of Wounded Warriors Leave, certifying they have a qualifying service-connected disability.

Eligible employees are required to request this leave in advance when possible by completing and submitting a PS Form 3971, Request for or Notification of Absence to their supervisor. The employee should designate the reason for the absence as “Other” on the PS Form 3971 and write “Wounded Warriors Leave” in the space provided. The supervisor is responsible for approving or disapproving requests for Wounded Warriors Leave by signing PS Form 3971 and returning a copy to the employee.

Should the need to use this leave be unforeseeable, the employee must notify their supervisor of the absence, the expected duration, and the applicability of Wounded Warriors Leave. Employees may utilize the Enterprise Leave Request Application (eLRA) to request unscheduled Wounded Warriors Leave, which is accessed online via LiteBlue.  Alternatively, in offices where the Interactive Voice Response(IVR) system is used, the employee may record his or her absences by that method. In offices without the IVR system, the employee may notify the supervisor directly of the need for the absence. If the employee does not submit PS Form 3971 before the absence, the employee must complete the form upon his or her return to duty.

In addition, to verify that Wounded Warriors Leave requested by an employee is appropriately used for the treatment of a service-connected disability, the requesting employee must provide proof from the health care provider that the employee used the leave to receive treatment for a covered disability. The Postal Service created a form to be used for this verification. The form is PS Form 5980, Treatment Verification for Wounded Warriors Leave. Employees are required to submit a PS Form 5980 no later than 15 calendar days after they return to work.