1. Title 5 employees*;
2. Title 42 appointed individuals*;
3. Senior Biomedical Research and Biomedical Product Assessment Service (SBRBPAS) employees*;
4. Senior Level (SL) and Scientific or Professional (ST); and
5. Prevailing Rate (Wage Grade) employees.
   * see exclusions below.

1. Senior Executive Service (SES) employees;
2. Title 42 SES equivalent employees including: NIH Deputy Directors, Institute or Center (IC) Directors, IC Deputy Directors, Scientific Directors, Clinical Directors, Scientific Executives, Associate Directors, and Office Heads in the NIH Office of the Director (OD) who report directly to the NIH Director;
3. Employees in the 0602 – Physicians, 0680 – Dentists, and 0688 – Podiatrists occupational series who receive Title 38 Physician, Dentist, and Podiatrist pay (PDP); and
4. Commissioned Corps Officers.

1. Employees who are on intermittent work schedules. These employees are not eligible to earn and use CTT because they do not have a scheduled tour of duty for leave purposes.
2. Employees whose travel is conducted in connection with union activities. These employees are not entitled to earn CTT for such travel because they are traveling for the benefit of the union and not for agency- related work purposes.
3. Travel associated with a Permanent Change of Station (PCS).

1. CTT is earned and used in 15-minute increments. It must be used within 26 pay periods from the time it was earned.
2. There is no limitation on the amount of CTT an employee may earn.
3. NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) must charge CTT in the chronological order in which it was earned, with CTT earned first being charged first.
4. ICOs will track each employee’s CTT earned and used through the time and attendance system.
5. CTT may not be advanced.
6. An employee must request permission from his or her supervisor in the time and attendance system when scheduling the use of accrued CTT.
7. By regulation, employees may not receive payment for unused CTT under any circumstances.
8. Accrued CTT must not be considered in applying premium pay limitations or the established aggregate limitations on pay.

1. The employee must use all CTT earned by the end of the 26th pay period following the pay period in which it was earned, or such CTT will be forfeited. If an employee fails to use his or her accrued CTT before the end of the 26th pay period after the pay period during which it was earned due to an exigency of the service beyond the employee's control, the Executive Officer of the individual’s ICO, at their sole and exclusive discretion, may extend the time limit for up to an additional 26 pay periods.
2. CTT is also subject to forfeiture under the following circumstances:
   1. Upon voluntary transfer to another agency;
   2. Upon movement to a noncovered position; or
   3. Upon separation from the Federal Government.*
      * See exceptions noted below for uniformed service or an on-the-job injury with entitlement to injury compensation at 5 CFR 550.1407(a)(2)
3. However, unused CTT will be held in suspension for an employee who separates, or is placed in a leave without pay (LWOP) status, and later returns to NIH following:
   1. Separation or leave without pay to perform service in the uniformed services (as defined in 38 U.S.C. 4303 and 5 CFR 353.102) and a return to service through the exercise of a reemployment right, or
   2. Separation or leave without pay due to an on-the-job injury with entitlement to injury compensation under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 81.

Accordingly, the employee must be advised (upon return to duty), in writing of the requirement to use all CTT by the end of the 26th pay period following the pay period in which he or she returns, or forfeit the CTT.

1. Creditable Travel Time: Time spent in a travel status outside of regular working hours between the employee’s official duty station and a temporary duty station, between two temporary duty stations, or between an employee’s home and a temporary duty station or transportation terminal outside the limits of his or her official duty station is considered creditable travel time.
2. Commuting Time: Travel outside of regular working hours between an employee's home and a temporary duty station or transportation terminal outside the limits of his or her official duty station is considered creditable travel time. However, the normal home-to-work/work-to-home commuting time is deducted when calculating the creditable travel time.  Travel within the limits of an employee’s official duty station is considered equivalent to commuting time and is not creditable time in a travel status. However, travel outside of regular working hours between a worksite and a transportation terminal is creditable travel time, and no commuting time offset applies.
3. Creditable Travel Time - Remote Workers: The NIH will not permit remote workers to earn CTT when required to report to the agency worksite or other temporary duty station if travel from their official worksite/alternative worksite is less than 50 miles to the agency worksite/temporary duty station. Remote employees who are required to travel more than 50 miles away from their official worksite/alternative worksite to the agency worksite or other temporary duty station may be afforded CTT for official travel if the approved itinerary requires the employee to be in a travel status, when such time is not otherwise compensable.
4. Creditable Waiting Time: Airline travelers generally are required to arrive at the airport at a designated pre-departure time (e.g., 1 - 3 hours before the scheduled departure, depending on whether the flight is domestic or international). Such waiting time at the airport is considered usual waiting time and is creditable time in a travel status when such time is not otherwise compensable. In addition, time spent at an intervening airport waiting for a connecting flight (e.g., 1 or 2 hours) also is creditable time in a travel status. If an employee experiences an unusually long wait prior to his or her initial departure or between actual periods of travel during which the employee is free to rest, sleep, or otherwise use the time for his or her own purposes, the extended waiting time outside the employee's regular working hours is not creditable time in a travel status. It is NIH policy that CTT earned for pre-departure will be capped at two hours for a domestic flight and three hours for an international flight.

ICOs should establish internal procedures for an employee to request credit for CTT. The following two requirements must be included in the procedures.

1. CTT must be approved prior to commencement of the trip and the Travel Authorization needs to state the traveler's eligibility to earn CTT. This approval should be received from the employee’s Leave Approving Official, unless this authority has been otherwise re-delegated in the employee’s ICO. The Travel Planner should select "Comp Time Off for Travel" from the listing displayed under "Other Authorizations" in the automated travel system. Because the approval process may occasionally occur outside of the routing within the travel system, it is permissible for the Travel Authorization to be modified after travel commences to reflect pre-authorization. When this occurs, supporting documentation evidencing this is to be uploaded into the travel system.
2. Upon completion of the trip, written documentation showing CTT earned must be submitted to the supervisor on NIH Form 2920-1. This should take place within five working days of employee’s completion of the travel status.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides a fact sheet with links to question-and-answer guidance as well as examples on CTT online at: http://www.opm.gov/oca/pay/HTML/compensatory_time.asp.