New Law Lets Workers at AF Base Donate Vacations to Cancer Victim

President Reagan signed a bill Monday permitting civilian employees at an Air Force base in New York to give up part of their vacations for a fellow employee suffering from cancer to use as sick leave.

The law authorizes employees at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y., to transfer some of their annual leave to Nancy L. Brady for her use while she undergoes breast cancer treatments.

Brady, 57, chief of the support division of the 485th Engineering Installation Group and a 23-year civilian employee at the base, was diagnosed as having cancer in 1985 and has had two operations.

She used all of her sick leave between February and November, 1985, and has had continued chemotherapy. She was hospitalized four times again this year and has used the maximum available leave for 1987.

When employees proposed to transfer their unused sick leave to Brady, they discovered that it would require an act of Congress, so Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) introduced the legislation.

Dale Curtis, Boehlert’s press secretary, said the Reagan Administration objected to transferring sick leave on grounds that it would set a precedent that could be costly, so the bill was amended to take the time out of vacations instead.