American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319), § 4001, enacted on March 11, 2021, established a new category of paid leave for selected Federal employees. Eligibility for the leave is based on certain COVID-19-related qualifying circumstances (see Attachment A for the COVID-19 Emergency Paid Leave Guidance). This emergency paid leave will be funded by a $570 million Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund and administered by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.

Requesting Reimbursement Procedures

Reimbursement is available for agency leave payments (covering employees in qualifying circumstances) for leave used during the qualifying period from March 11 through September 30, 2021.

• Agencies will complete the Request for COVID-19 Emergency Paid Leave Reimbursement Form by pay period. The request should specify the pay period, total number employees and leave hours covered, and amount of paid leave. The request for reimbursement must be certified by the agency’s Authorizing Officer (i.e. the Chief Financial Officer or Designee).
• The request must be submitted to OPM Office of the Chief Financial Officer via email at OPMARPAServices@opm.gov.
• OPM will review and confirm completeness of submitted reimbursement request. If the request is incomplete, OPM will reject the request and return to the agency. (Agency reimbursement requests will be processed on a first-come, first-service basis, based on the date and time OPM receives each agency reimbursement request.)

IMPORTANT: Agencies must inform employees that the granting of emergency paid leave to employees who meet the eligibility conditions is tentative and conditional upon monies being available in the ARPA Fund maintained by OPM.

Download OPM’s Agency ARPA Reimbursement Form

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• OPM Form 5058 – ARPA Reimbursement Form for Agencies

Status of the Federal ARPA Funds

• Agency Requests Processed/Fund Balance (as of 09/30/2022)