37 U.S.C. § 501

(a) In this section, the term “discharge” means— (1) in the case of an enlisted member, separation or release from active duty under honorable conditions, termination of an enlistment in conjunction with the commencement of a successive enlistment (without regard to the date of the expiration of the term of the enlistment being terminated), or appointment as an officer; (2) in the case of an officer, separation or release from active duty under honorable conditions; (3) in the case of either an officer or an enlisted member, death while on active duty unless the decedent was put to death as lawful punishment for a crime or a military offense; (4) in the case of an officer or an enlisted member of a reserve component, or of the Space Force, who is not serving on active duty, separation or release from the reserve component, or from the Space Force, under honorable conditions, or death; and (5) in the case of an enlisted member of a reserve component, or of the Space Force, who is not serving on active duty, termination of enlistment in conjunction with the commencement of a successive enlistment, or appointment as an officer. (b) (1) A member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard, or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who has accrued leave to the member’s credit at the time of the member’s discharge, is entitled to be paid in cash or by a check on the Treasurer of the United States for such leave on the basis of the basic pay to which the member was entitled on the date of discharge. (2) Payment may not be made under this subsection to a member who is discharged for the purpose of accepting an appointment or a warrant in any uniformed service. (3) Payment may not be made to a member for any leave he elects to have carried over to a new enlistment in any uniformed service on the day after the date of his discharge; but payment may be made to a member for any leave he elects not to carry over to a new enlistment. However, the number of days of leave for which payment is made may not exceed sixty, less the number of days for which payment was previously made under this section after February 9, 1976 . (4) A member to whom a payment may not be made under this subsection, or a member who reverts from officer to enlisted status, carries the accrued leave standing to his credit from the one status to the other within any uniformed service. (5) The limitation in the second sentence of paragraph (3) and in subsection (f) shall not apply with respect to leave accrued— (A) by a member of a reserve component, or a member of the Space Force in space force active status not on sustained duty, while serving on active duty in support of a contingency operation; (B) by a member of the armed forces in the Retired Reserve while serving on active duty in support of a contingency operation; (C) by a retired member of the Regular Army, Regular Navy, Regular Air Force, Regular Marine Corps, or Space Force or a member of the Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine Corps Reserve while the member is serving on active duty in support of a contingency operation; or (D) by a member of a reserve component, or a member of the Space Force in space force active status not on sustained duty, while serving on active duty, full-time National Guard duty, or active duty for training for a period of more than 30 days but not in excess of 365 days. (6) An enlisted member of the armed forces who would lose accumulated leave in excess of 90 days of leave under section 701(e) of title 10 may elect to be paid in cash or by a check on the Treasurer of the United States for any leave in excess so accumulated for up to 30 days of such leave. A member may make an election under this paragraph only once. (c) Unused accrued leave for which payment is made under subsection (b) is not considered as service for any purpose. (d) (1) Payments for unused accrued leave under subsections (b) and (g), in the case of a member who dies while on active duty or in the case of a member or former member who dies after retirement or discharge and before he receives that payment, shall be made in accordance with section 2771 of title 10 . In the case of a member who dies while on active duty, payment for unused accrued leave under subsections (b) and (g) shall be based upon the unused accrued leave the member carried forward into the leave year during which he died plus the unused leave that accrued to him during that leave year. (2) The limitations in the second sentence of subsection (b)(3), subsection (f), and the second sentence of subsection (g) shall not apply with respect to a payment made under this subsection. (e) (1) A member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard, or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is discharged under other than honorable conditions forfeits all accrued leave to his credit at the time of his discharge. (2) The Secretary concerned may require that a member of a uniformed service who is discharged before completing six months of active duty because of a failure to serve satisfactorily (as determined by the Secretary concerned) forfeit all accrued leave to his credit at the time of his discharge. (f) The number of days upon which payment under subsection (b) or (g) is based may not exceed sixty, less the number of days for which payment has been previously made under such subsections after February 9, 1976 . For the purposes of this subsection, the number of days upon which payment may be based shall be determined without regard to any break in service or change in status in the uniformed services. (g) An officer of the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service, or an officer of the Reserve Corps 1 1 See Change of Name note below. of the Public Health Service on active duty, who is credited with accumulated and accrued annual leave on the date of his separation, retirement, or release from active duty, shall, if his application for that leave is approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, be paid for that leave in a lump-sum on the basis of his basic pay, subsistence allowance, and allowance for quarters whether or not he is receiving that allowance on that date. However, the number of days upon which the lump-sum payment is based is subject to subsection (f). A lump-sum payment may not be made under this subsection to an officer— (1) whose appointment expires or is terminated and who, without a break in active service, accepts a new appointment; (2) who is retired for age in time of war and is continued on, or recalled to, active duty without a break in active service; or (3) who is transferred to another department or agency of the United States under circumstances in which, by any other law, his leave may be transferred. In this subsection, the term “accumulated annual leave” means unused accrued annual leave carried forward from one leave year into the next leave year, and the term “accrued annual leave” means the annual leave accruing to an officer during one leave year. (h) Payment shall be made for all leave accumulated under section 701(f) of title 10 as soon as possible after the name of the person concerned is removed from a missing status, as defined in section 551(2) of this title .