Agencies Paid Hundreds of Employees to Not Work for at Least One Year
Federal agencies from fiscal 2011 to fiscal 2013 paid 263 employees at least one full year’s salary to sit on the sidelines and not work, and paid an additional 57,000 federal workers at least one month’s salary to stay home.
A Government Accountability Office report released on Monday found the government spent a total of $3.1 billion in the three-year period on salaries for employees on paid administrative leave, which is meant to be used primarily while investigating employees’ alleged misconduct. Of that total, agencies spent $700 million for employees on administrative leave for at least one month, and $31 million for employees paid to not work for at least one year.
There is no general statutory authority for the use of paid administrative leave, GAO said, but the auditing agency and the Office of Personnel Management have issued guidance to agencies to manage its use. OPM has provided examples for when administrative leave is appropriate, such as unavoidable tardiness of less than one hour, for hourly wage-grade employees and cases of adverse personnel actions. In the “rare circumstances” employees present a threat to the workplace, the possibility of damaging government property, or would “otherwise jeopardize legitimate government interests,” agencies can place the employees on paid administrative leave. Agencies often invoke their right to use this type of leave after providing advance notice of a suspension or firing.
Essentially, administrative leave allows agencies to take employees off the job without punishing them in a way that violates due process or is appealable to entities such as the Merit Systems Protection Board. This enables agencies to conduct investigations into alleged wrongdoing.
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