To the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies:
Pending consideration by the Congress of legislation amending the coverage of existing leave laws, I request that no person appointed by the President shall, upon leaving the Government, receive payment for unused annual leave except upon a clear showing of entitlement.
To that end, it will be the general practice to maintain formal leave records for Presidential appointees wherever practicable. Where the nature of the position is such that the keeping of formal leave records is impracticable, the individual concerned will be expected to maintain an accurate personal record of his leave status.
In any case where there is the slightest doubt as to the sufficiency of a leave record to support a lump-sum payment for accrued leave upon separation from the Government service, the head of the agency will either request an advance decision from the Comptroller General of the United States as to the propriety of the payment, or submit the matter to the General Accounting Office for settlement as a claim.
Until further notice, the Bureau of the Budget is to be informed of all terminal leave payments to Presidential appointees.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Note: An act to provide for the exemption from the Annual and Sick Leave Act of 1951 of certain officers in the executive branch of the Government (Public Law 102, 83d Cong.) was approved on July 2, 1953 (67 Stat. 136).
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Memorandum on Payment for Unused Leave to Persons Appointed by the President. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/231668